An Artist Among Monsters
by ClanCrusher
Summary: Ranma had been certain he'd never find a group of women more forward, aggressive, and crazy than his fiancees in Nerima. Of course, that was before Ryoga got him stranded in a world full of monster girls.
1. Chapter 1: Wake Up Call

"You wanna run that by me again?"

Ranma sighed, but humored the lost boy. "I think you can teleport."

"Ranma...you're an idiot."

"Wait! Hear me out! Your walking pace is about eight kilometers per hour, but you constantly make journeys from Tokyo to Nagano in less than a day. One time you ended up on Sado Island, but you didn't even swim or get wet. You're constantly lost, but eventually you always get to where you're going if you set your mind to it. If it's not teleportation, then what is it?"

Ryoga closed his eyes and glowered for a bit. Ranma could tell he was debating whether or not to throw a punch. "If I could teleport, I'd have used it to kick your ass a long time ago."

"Yeah, but maybe you don't know you _can_ do it, and that's why you keep getting lost," insisted Ranma. "Well, that and being generally clueless when it comes to directions."

The blow came out fast, but Ranma was faster, jumping back and landing a few paces away, not even breaking the flow of conversation. "Look, aren't you at least a little bit curious how you can do these things? Maybe you could actually solve the problem if you knew what was happening."

Ranma waited, watching the internal struggle play out on Ryoga's face. Finally, he responded. "What's in it for you? You'd never help me if you didn't have something to gain from it."

"Um...because teleportation would be awesome. Duh."

"It's not teleportation! When I travel I just...zone out a little bit, and then suddenly I'm in another place entirely and some time has passed. There's nothing special about it I just...don't know what happens."

"Sounds like-"

"It's not teleportation!"

"Alright, how about we test it then?" challenged Ranma.

"Test it how? I can't just get lost on command."

"Ryoga, you're always lost. The only thing that changes is how lost you are," retorted Ranma.

"That's it, you're dead!" The umbrella was out in an instant, the razor sharp parasol unfurling before it was flung in Ranma's direction.

Raising his hands up in the air, Ranma winced slightly as he caught it by the handle, the force of the fling and the weight of it making him slide back a foot before he stopped its momentum. Instead of tossing it aside though, Ranma folded it and casually tossed it back toward the charging Ryoga, halting him mid-stride as he caught it on reflex.

"Will you give it a rest, P-chan? Look, if I find out anything about your 'getting lost' technique, I promise to let you know, okay? Martial Aritst's honor and all that."

Ryoga's expression shifted to one of contemplation before he slowly took the umbrella and strapped it back to his bag. "Fine...but you also have to tell me how to get back to Nerima."

Ranma's eye twitched. "Ryoga, you're in the middle of the field at Furinkan High."

The lost boy blinked, and slowly looked around, taking in his surroundings. Lines were painted on the grass and just off to his left was the large, unmistakable school building he had been looking for. "Huh...that's odd, I thought this was Hokkaido."

"Unbelievable," muttered Ranma beneath his breath. "Look, you want to visit Akane, right? Just try to go to the Tendo Dojo from here, and I'll follow along using this." Reaching into his pocket, Ranma uncoiled a length of rope. "I'll just tie this to your bag and follow along behind you. Just pretend I'm not here."

"If only it were that easy," grumbled Ryoga.

Ranma ignored the jab and tied himself securely to his rival's pack, giving himself enough slack to follow along behind at a distance while also making sure to tie the other end around his waist, just to be sure. "Ready when you are."

"Right," said Ryoga with a nod. "Um...which way should I go?"

"Just pick out the route you think is right," said Ranma with a roll of his eyes. "The point is to try and see what happens when you get lost."

Ryoga grumbled but hefted his pack and started off, walking steadily across the field. The direction seemed promising enough and the general route he was taking was the correct one, but it didn't take long for things to go downhill. Abruptly, and without warning, Ryoga took a ninety-degree turn down a side-street, moving so fast that Ranma had to jog to make the turn before Ryoga was completely lost from sight. A few streets later it happened again, the lost boy keeping his stride even as he made the sharp course corrections.

Stranger still, as Ranma looked up at a passing street sign to see where they were located, he realized that they were in fact two streets to the right of where they needed to be rather than left, yet he hadn't noticed anything amiss. Narrowing his eyes, Ranma focused in on Ryoga, watching for any sign of ki or magic. That sudden turn had to be a part of it, and yet as it happened once again, Ranma couldn't feel a thing...and yet they were even further away from the goal than last time.

Debating internally on whether or not to say something, Ranma ultimately chose to stay silent. There was something going on here, but he had no idea how or why it was happening. He needed to see it again to be sure. Closing his eyes for a moment, Ranma extended his senses, trying to see if there was anything in the air that changed, letting the rope be his guide for a moment and then...

 _Plip._

There! That was something! Opening his eyes, Ranma fought back the urge to gasp as the surrounding city had been replaced by large, lush trees. His head twisted, taking in the sight while trying to recall what he had been hearing a moment before. There hadn't been a cut off of sound, just a gradual fading as the new environment set in, but the city wasn't even visible through the gaps in the trees.

"Hey Ryoga, stop. I think we..." Ranma paused, realizing quite suddenly that the tug from the lost boy's pace was gone. Pulling the rope back toward him, Ranma's eyes widened as he saw that the cord had been neatly severed with razor sharp precision. "Okay...that's not normal."

And nothing was normal about his surroundings, either. Forests weren't uncommon in Tokyo, but this was something else entirely. No path, no noise from the city, no sounds of humans or cars, and from the elevation, it didn't seem like he was close to a mountain, either.

"Okay Ranma...relax, you're not Ryoga, you have a sense of direction. Just find a place high up and-"

 **BOOM!**

The sound of an explosion ripped through the quiet woods, followed by an intense shockwave that bent the trees backward and nearly knocked Ranma off his feet. The air, which had been still moments before, was now saturated with an alien energy that made his skin tingle and his senses go haywire. "God dammit Ryoga, where the hell are we?"

Taking to the trees, Ranma kicked off the branches and quickly closed in on the source. The energy was dissipating as quickly as it had arrived, but something was still there at the point of origin. Either the cause or the recipient. Breaking into the clearing and pushing through the cloud of dust, Ranma skidded to a halt on the damp grass and saw a woman in the middle of the crater that had formed.

"Hey! You okay?" he shouted out, stepping closer, only to recoil in surprise at the sight. The woman on the ground was only partially one. As the dust cleared, more of her features were revealed, and suddenly Ryoga's potential teleportation powers weren't the strangest thing he'd seen today.

Her skin was a soft violet color and outrageously long silver hair was splayed out on the ground beneath. Strange markings covered her body, decorating her side like a series of intricate tattoos, and her clothing, such that it was, left almost everything on display.

All of that, however, was a side show compared to what was below her waist. In the place of human legs was a long, thick, two-toned red tail covered in scales and stretching out at least a dozen feet, giving her a very serpentine appearance. Ranma's mind raced, trying to think of any explanation as to her presence. Was this another Jusenkyo victim?

His gut was telling him no, but his senses were telling him that this was the source of the explosion. It looked like she'd been on the losing end of a fight, but oddly enough, there wasn't a mark or blemish on her body to be seen. Pushing his sense of foreboding to the side, Ranma knelt down next to her and placed two fingers on her neck. A pulse. That was good. She looked to be breathing normally, too.

"Hey, are you okay?" he repeated, softer this time.

The flower in her hair, which Ranma had initially dismissed as a decoration, suddenly moved, green vines sliding out and wrapping tight around his wrist. "What the-" A second later, golden eyes opened and a hand snapped towards his throat, powerful fingers squeezing down hard. "Gurk!"

"You...what were you about to do?" she demanded, tightening her grip as Ranma grabbed at her wrist and tried to alleviate some of the pressure. "Are you just a thief, or were you hoping to take advantage of a helpless monster?"

Unable to speak, Ranma responded with action instead, abandoning the hold on her wrist and striking hard at the elbow. The fingers went slack and Ranma moved, yanking hard at the vines and jumping to his feet, right before having to quickly duck underneath a wide-sweeping blow from her tail. "Gah...what the hell was that for?"

Slowly, almost lazily, the snake-woman pulled herself into an upright position, settling her human body back just a bit to make it seem like she was lounging on her own coils. Her arms crossed beneath her breasts and her golden eyes narrowed in on him. For all intents and purposes, the pose looked relaxed and almost serene, but Ranma could feel the immense power building. "I traveled here to see if humans were worth the hassle of living with. I'm thankful to have my question answered so succinctly."

"I was only checking your pulse!"

"The sheer cold will destroy your body!"

Ranma's vision went white for a moment as a ball of concentrated...something manifested in the snake-woman's hands, drawing in energy from the air around it before she almost casually tossed it in front of her. The temperature in the air suddenly dropped several degrees, and a moment later the ball exploded.

The martial artist had been moving even as she spoke, diving behind one of the stronger looking trees in the area before the ground shook with the force of the detonation. Frost blanketed the area in an instant and countless shards of ice erupted from the point of impact, surging forward with enough force to penetrate the tree Ranma was hiding behind, narrowly missing his legs and head.

"Perish in an icy hell!"

The shards embedded in the trees and the ground shuddered as a chilling wind whipped up around him, gale force winds battering at his body as a full-blown tornado formed, picking up all the icy shards and turning them into numerous, lethal projectiles, spinning around him with increasing intensity. Ranma's hands flashed out at amaguriken speeds, catching and deflecting the shards that came near him, but his footing was slipping on the icy ground and the winds were only getting stronger. There was only one place the magic wasn't touching, and that was directly in front of him.

"Will you just listen to me for a second?" shouted Ranma, ignoring the chill as best he could before making a mad dash towards the edge of the chilling vortex, ducking and dodging around the blades of ice as he moved, but the projectiles were simply too numerous. Cuts opened up on his legs and arms as ran before he finally broke through the edge of the tornado, directly on top of the caster.

"I'm not trying to steal from you!" His words were accompanied with a hard kick toward her human body, his foot bounding off of her snake-body to give him the air he needed to strike out at her human half. To his surprise, she didn't even try to block, letting the foot impact her neck with barely a flinch.

Twisting through the air and landing at her back, Ranma sprung toward her a second time. "And I'd never attack a sleeping opponent!" His fists blurred and blows rained down upon her, striking repeatedly in the same spot. Her skin was soft and flawlessly smooth, and yet his punches landed with little visible impact before she shifted and twisted around in her coils to face him once more, her hand sweeping out, forcing him to retreat in the face of several more lethal looking ice spikes that were formed in the air and shot towards him point blank.

"Why do I always encounter the crazy ones?" lamented Ranma as he formulated his next plan of attack. Her magic was easy enough to read, but covered such a wide swath of destruction that dodging was only going to get him so far, and that same strange magic almost seemed like it was protecting her from all but the most superficial harm.

"Your flesh will be seared from your bones! Say hello to Ilias once I send you to her!"

"Who the hell is Ilias?!"

The magic in the air shifted again, and suddenly sweat was dripping from Ranma's brow. He didn't need to see the energy forming in her hands or feel the shift of temperature in the air to know what was coming next, and he was already on the move by the time the firestorm was unleashed. In the blink of an eye, a wide swath of trees at his back were vaporized and a multitude of fireballs were soon dogging his path, detonating into large pillars of fire that rose above the tops of the trees.

Ranma poured on the speed, his body becoming a blur as he dodged, slipping into the Soul of Ice and cooling his aura to quell the errant cinders striking him. This power was insane. The creature hadn't even moved from her spot since the battle started, and the huge expenditure of magical energy didn't even seem to phase her.

Skidding to a stop on the wet grass, Ranma brought his palms outward and took aim, building up his confidence and shouting out his attack to give it form. "Moko Takabisha!" The blue missile of ki streaked through the trees towards his target, only for that long tail to suddenly move and smack it skyward to burst harmlessly in the air. Ranma was already moving though, circling around her and letting loose with several more ki blasts, some of them aimed at her, others aimed at the dirt, kicking up clouds of dust to obstruct his follow up shots.

Or at least, that was his plan, right before his opponent brought her tail down and struck out at the air, a potent gust of wind following behind it and dissipating the dust cloud immediately. Even so, some of his shots managed to slip through, but just like his punches, the bursts of energy didn't even make her flinch.

"Your ignorance will not spare your demise. You're clearly one of Ilias' so-called heroes just waiting to destroy any monster you come across."

Ice again. Forming at his feet this time. A least a hundred meters in every direction. There was only one safe place. Forward. Ice spires as big as his body burst from the ground right as his foot left the grass, but Ranma barely noticed the near miss. Ki was channeling into his arms and fists, building up for an all-or-nothing attack.

"Kachuu Tenshin Amaguriken!"

The snake-woman hadn't put up a defense and Ranma was quick to exploit it, raining blows down upon her human half faster than the eye could see, striking everywhere from her face to her stomach, hoping to find some vulnerable point in her defenses. From the way her snake body recoiled, it seemed like she was surprised at least, but soon she was striking back, her hands moving at appreciable speeds as she began to steadily deflect and counter attack, forcing Ranma to twist in the air and kick off her snake body to continue the assault from another angle.

It was right at that point that Ranma was reminded that her tail wasn't for show, as the lamia twisted and struck out with dizzying speed, smacking him right out of the air and sending him crashing through the forest of icicles.

"The fires of hell shall purge you!"

The cold disappeared and the heat returned. He didn't need to see through the mass of ice to know what was coming, only that he needed to move. He'd barely gotten to his feet before the fire hit, instantly melting the ice around him as the inferno raged through the forest. With nothing to hide behind that the fire couldn't consume, Ranma flung himself to the side, the ice melting and the wave of water passing over him.

 _Not much of a tactical thinker...the ice got in the way of her fire..._

"No more games. This last strike will finish..." The words on the her lips stalled and then died out completely. "You...who are you? You're not a human at all!"

Ranma blinked and then looked down. Oh right, the water. His curse had triggered and he hadn't even noticed it in the chaos. "Er..."

"Right through here! Douse those fires! Protect the village at all costs!"

Voices began to echo through the trees along with the heavy clank of metal. Twenty-two from the ki signatures she was reading, but none of them seemed to be anywhere close to the power that the monster was giving off, and given what she'd just said about humans minutes before...

"Hmph. What a waste of time. You should flee, monster. These Ilias-blinded fools aren't nearly as merciful as I."

"You call that-" she began, only for the lamia to fade right before her eyes. "-merciful?"

The overwhelming energy dissipated, leaving Ranma alone in the devastated clearing. "What in the hell just happened?" she said aloud, slumping to a sitting position on the wet and charred ground. Even Saffron hadn't pulled out this level destruction so casually, and his own attacks hadn't done a damn thing.

"Where in the hell am I?"

If there was any more evidence Ranma needed that she wasn't anywhere near Japan, the sight of the group of humans clad in full-on metal armor as though they'd walked out of the set of a medieval European era was the final nail in the coffin. That wasn't the only surprise though, as several more humans behind them dressed in long robes were tending to the fires, conjuring water out of the air to quell the blazes that had been left behind. "Huh...that looks useful."

"Miss, are you okay? What happened to the monster who did this?"

Several of the soldiers were quick to come to her side, along with another of the robed humans whose hands were already glowing a soft white color.

"Don't know...she threw a ton of energy around and vanished when she heard you coming," said Ranko honestly, a soothing feeling passing over her body as that white energy made contact with her. The question was why? Even _she_ could have taken this group on, and the snake woman could have obliterated them with a casual gesture of her hand.

"Can you stand? Do you need to be carried?"

Ranma shook her head, taking a breath and getting to her feet. Aside from the cuts she'd taken from the ice tornado, she was relatively uninjured, and the soft white energy being employed by the robed figure was already closing her wounds. Her clothing was more than a little tattered though, burned in several places where she hadn't been fast enough to dodge the fire. "No, I'm fine...somehow."

The mage standing next to her nodded to the soldier. "No serious injuries. You're lucky to be alive, miss..."

"Saotome. Ranma Saotome," she filled in for him. "I'm uh...not from around here. I come from pretty far away, actually."

"Sentora? Which region?"

"Um...the forest one?" provided Ranma hesitantly.

"You mean Grand Noah?"

"Yeah, that place. Sorry, my mind is a little fuzzy right now. Something that monster did kinda..." She waved a hand around her head as if to indicate some sort of amnesiac like state, hoping that the soldiers and mages surrounding her would fill in the blanks.

"Must have been a mental technique," said the mage immediately, his head tilting downward slightly to look her in the eyes. "Do you remember anything about the monster? What she looked like, perhaps?"

"Half snake, half human," provided Ranma, making a show of rubbing her head and groaning slightly. "So um...this might sound like a stupid question but...where am I?"

* * *

An hour later, Ranma's head was spinning for reasons entirely unrelated to her 'mental condition'. A map was laid out before her, and no matter which way she looked at it, there was nothing even remotely akin to Earth on there. Instead, there were a grand total of four different continents, with most of the world's land mass in a centralized location, and from what she'd been told, she was on the continent furthest south. From what she was reading, it also seemed as though this Ilias was a rather big deal here.

"Blessings of Ilias be upon you, child. You have my deepest sympathies for what you've had to endure. Monsters have only been causing more problems recently, even in a place so wholly devoted to Ilias," said the nurse as she came back around to Ranma's bed. "Has the goddess blessed you with any insight into your forgotten memories?"

"No, no goddess yet," said Ranma, resisting the urge to roll her eyes. "Pretty sure my memories are going to have to come back the old fashioned way."

Ilias Continent, Iliasville, Iliasburg, Ilias Port, Ilias Temple...was this entire continent really that devoted, or did this Ilias goddess have a superiority complex? It was tempting to ask the priest looking after her, but she had a feeling that would have been pushing the amnesia thing a little too far.

"Well, be sure to be dutiful in your prayers to Ilias and I'm sure she will bless you with a swift recovery," the priest reminded her. "In fact, I can pray with you right now if you'd like."

Ranma hesitated. "That won't be necessary. I uh...already did that a couple times."

The priest nodded, giving her a kind smile. "Well, you're welcome to stay here for as long as you need to recover. Perhaps the church can help you find someone who knows you. If there's anything I can personally help with, do let me know."

Whatever the deal with their goddess was, the priests did seem nice enough. "Actually, I could use some warm water if you don't mind. Goes down a bit easier than cold."

With a nod, the priest departed, leaving her alone with the map and the various books at her bedside. For the tenth time that hour, Ranma cursed Ryoga. "I told that idiot it was teleportation," she grumbled. Come to think of it, hadn't that snake-woman used something similar when she fled from the fight? And why had she fled from the fight to begin with? She'd said something about Ilias too, hadn't she?

Lost in thought, the redhead barely noticed the warm water being delivered to her bedside. Maybe this Ilias was the only one protecting them from monsters like the one she'd just encountered. Clearly it must have been needed if the ki signatures of the warriors and priests in the temple were anything to go on.

If there was one small saving grace, it seemed that everyone at least read and spoke Japanese. That in and of itself raised even more questions, but Ranma wasn't going to complain about the convenience, as the inconveniences had already piled up to a rather dizzying height. It was tempting to see just how much he could use the temple to his benefit, but he couldn't quite shake the uncomfortable feeling he got from simply being here. As if every one of his actions were being watched and scrutinized.

Grabbing the warm glass of water from the stand, Ranma splashed it over his head, shifting back into his male form before promptly opening the window at his bedside and leaping out, hitting the ground with barely a sound. The map was already fully memorized, but he only had an inkling of where he wanted to go or what he wanted to do.

"Took you long enough. I didn't think I'd hit you that hard."

The hairs on Ranma's neck rose slightly as he heard a familiar voice. He hadn't even sensed her presence. Turning slowly, Ranma came face to face with the snake woman he had been fighting just hours earlier except...

"That's a terrible disguise," he said bluntly.

The snake woman did indeed look 'human' in the sense that she'd gotten the general body shape and skin tone right, but that only seemed to make her stand out all the more. The intricate markings on her body remained and now extended to her bare thigh, and the only clothing she'd seemed to have added was a pair of thigh high boots. Not even Shampoo's most risque outfits had ever been quite so...exotic.

"Maybe. But humans are idiots," said the disguised snake-woman.

"Good morning, lovely day we're having here, isn't it?" said a passing guard with a nod towards the pair.

"Praise Ilias for such a beautiful, monster free day! I feel entirely secure within her great temple," said a priest a moment later, walking the opposite direction.

"Wasn't there just a huge monster attack an hour ago?"

"Yes, but it wasn't attacking the temple itself now, was it?"

Ranma resisted the urge to sigh at that. How could she possibly be...

"It's not just a physical disguise, is it?" he said suddenly, peering closer. "You're doing something with your aura. Making people look past you instead of at you."

"Perceptive," said the 'human' with a nod. "Though I doubt these Ilias-worshiping idiots would notice even without it. You're clearly not one of them, though. In fact, I don't even think you're fully human, which is odd since I can't sense any monster blood in you."

"Hate to break it to you, but I'm entirely human," said Ranma simply. "Why did you follow me here, anyways?"

"Curiosity. I've never seen a human change into a full female before. What's your secret?"

"It's a curse I'm trying to get rid of. I picked it up in a strange place."

"Who are you?"

The flash of her eyes was the only warning Ranma had before a sudden feeling of euphoria washed over him. His mouth was moving before his mind could catch up and words came spilling out of his mouth. "I'm Ranma Saotome, Miss Monster. Nothing more than a lowly human with a shape changing curse activated by hot and cold water."

As quickly as it had come, the daze was gone, leaving Ranma feeling slightly dizzy in the aftermath. "Nnhh...what the heck was that?"

"A high level monster technique," said the woman simply. "My eyes can do many things."

"You could have just asked me my name!"

"I could have," she agreed. "Where are you from?"

"That's..." Ranma hesitated. "...hard to explain."

Her eyes flashed again. "Where are you from?"

"Nnhh...f-from...Nerima, Tokyo Miss Mon-will you cut that out?!"

"You broke it," observed the monster idly as she rather suddenly pulled out a book and flipped it open, a frown forming on her face. "Interesting. I don't see any mention of that in the traveler's guide."

"I told you it was complicated," grumbled Ranma, shaking off the dizzy feeling. He'd managed to push enough of his aura in the way to interfere with the second eye-attack, but he had a feeling she was only partially trying. "So...are we fighting, or what?"

"As amusing as it would be to destroy this temple, that's not why I'm here. I was curious about the one who was so brazen to approach a powerful youma and try to steal from her."

"I wasn't trying to steal from you!"

"Was it something perverted then?"

"What? No! I was...look, if you don't believe me, use that eye thing again," said Ranma quickly, desperate to clear his name.

The disguised monster considered it for a moment, then her eyes flashed. This time Ranma didn't resist, letting his body relax and his eyes unfocus. "Why did you approach me in the forest?"

"Because I wanted to make sure you were alright," came his immediate reply. "I heard an explosion and I saw you lying unconscious in the middle of the woods, so I ran over to see if I could help, Miss Monster." Internally, Ranma grumbled as the technique seemed to force him to speak with exceeding politeness.

The monster regarded him for a few seconds before closing her eyes and sighing. "Alipheese Fateburn."

Blinking, Ranma felt the hypnotic like state vanish abruptly. "What?"

"My name. Alipheese Fateburn. Or Alice for short. I...suppose I owe you an apology for jumping to conclusions and attacking you. I didn't think there were any monster sympathizers this far south in the world."

"I..." Ranma hesitated. The number of times he'd actually been given an apology for someone jumping to conclusions and attacking him could be counted on one hand...with plenty of fingers left over. "It's alright. I'm used to it."

Alice frowned. "You're used to monsters attacking you over misunderstandings?"

"Well...not monsters specifically but..." He shrugged. "Misunderstandings? Yeah, those happen all the time. Almost all of my first meetings start off with a fight."

Alice frowned, folding her arms beneath her breasts. On the edge of his senses, Ranma could just barely detect her aura extending to include him as a crowd of priests left the temple with a retinue of guards in tow. The level of control was impressive, which briefly made him wonder why she'd been so wasteful with her abilities in their fight.

"So...you're from somewhere that I've never even heard of and isn't marked on any map, you have abilities far beyond what should be normal for a human, a curse that turns you female, and a habit of fighting everyone you meet for the first time. Clearly if I leave you on your own, you're going to be beating up helpless monsters left and right."

"Hey, it's not like I go looking for fights! They just...find me. A lot," protested Ranma. "Besides, if they're anything like you-"

"I'm one of the most powerful monsters in the world right now," said Alice shortly. "Probably even the most powerful. But you're still dangerous to everyone else."

"What? No I'm not!"

"What would you do if a weak, hungry slime girl came up to you, desperate for some food?"

"I...would try to feed her?" said Ranma uncertainly. What the hell was a slime girl?

For the first time since their conversation started, Alice smiled. Ranma began to get a sinking feeling in his stomach as he felt a trap closing around him. "Would you now? Care to prove it?"

* * *

"Wait so...that's a slime girl?" asked Ranma, eyes wide as he peeked out from behind the bush.

"Yes. What were you expecting?"

"Something a little less...literal," said the martial artist hesitantly. Indeed, the female figure seemed to very much be living up to her species name. In place of a normal body, an opaque gooey substance had been shaped into something approximating a humanoid female, though near her feet, the 'body' seemed to dissolve into a pool of slime.

Yet, for however alien she looked to him, her expressions and emotions were clear. She was frightened, and from the sound of it, sniffling a bit and trying not to cry as she sat in a pool of water. "What scared her?"

"She was searching for some food when some loud explosions scared her off. Then she was forced to hide from a bunch of guards from Ilias Temple," explained Alice.

"So...it's your fault she's like this then-hey!"

The martial artist stumbled forward as Alice's tail suddenly struck out at his back and pushed him forward. "No time to be pointing fingers, she's hungry."

Whirling around, Ranma was about to deliver a retort, but Alice had already vanished from his sight and his senses. A moment later he had more pressing concerns as a shriek of surprise reached his ears. "A human! G-go away! I'm a vicious monster!"

Turning back, Ranma quickly held up his hands in a warding gesture. "No, it's okay, I'm not here to hurt you! I um...I heard you crying and I was worried."

The slime girl sniffed, wiping a gooey hand against her face. If it weren't for the sounds she was making, the martial artist never would have been able to tell if she'd been crying or not. "I wasn't crying," she said defiantly. "A-and I wasn't scared of all the humans around, either!"

"They're not around anymore, it's just me right now." And an obnoxious snake-woman, but that was neither here nor there. "Are you sure you're okay? Do you need any help?"

The slime girl sniffed again. "N-no...I'm just a little emotional because it's been so long since I've eaten."

Again, Ranma couldn't help but feel like Alice had closed a trap of some kind around him, yet for the life of him, he couldn't figure out what it was. The slime girl didn't seem especially powerful, and from what he was sensing, a good portion of her body was a mixture of water and that strange magic that Alice had used. "Maybe I can help with that," he offered, cursing internally. Even if Alice was setting up a trap, it was difficult to turn away from a crying girl, monster or human.

"You...you would?" asked the slime girl, her eyes turning hopeful...or at least he was pretty sure they were hopeful. The more subtle expressions were hard to read given the single solid color her face was.

"Yeah...what do slime girls eat, anyways?"

The girl tilted her head. "You...don't know?"

"Nope. You're the first slime girl I've ever seen," he replied honestly. "My name is Ranma, by the way."

"Lime," said the girl distractedly, still giving him a curious look. "Are you sure you're okay with feeding me?"

"Positive. I may not look like it, but I'm a pretty good cook," insisted Ranma.

"Oh...okay. Could you take off your pants then?"

Ranma blinked. And then blinked again. Slowly, he brought a finger to his ear and swirled it around a couple of times. "I'm...sorry did you just say..."

"Well I could work with them on, but then they'd get all sticky," said Lime matter-of-fact. Slowly, her slime started to quiver again. "You...you don't want to feed me, do you? It's okay...I'll survive, somehow."

"W-wait! No! I just...here!" Fumbling slightly, Ranma pulled the drawstring on his pants and let them fall to his ankles, avoiding looking in Lime's direction, his instinctive desire to avoid a crying girl quickly outstripping his common sense as it so often did in these situations.

"Yaaay! Thank you!" Like a switch had been flipped, Lime's tears vanished and her mouth perked up into a bright smile. Ranma only had a moment to realize that Alice might not have been the only one in on this trap, but it was too late to back out now.

* * *

 _Lemon removed per site policy. Look for this story under Archive of Our Own or_ _ _Adult-Fanfiction_ for the cut content._

* * *

Lime's good mood faded slightly as her eyes turned toward the monster lord. "Hey, you took some!"

"Of course I did," said Alice flatly. "You've had plenty. Overeating isn't good for you." With a firm tug, Alice pulled Ranma back and uncovered his mouth as he slipped free of Lime's body. Even with his newfound freedom though, he was leaning against Alice more than not as he tried to catch his breath.

"But...but this is Ilias Continent! All the humans hate monsters here! I might not find another meal for days!"

Ranma let out a small groan as Alice seemed to seriously consider her argument. "Fine, one more meal for the road then."

"Yaaay!" In a wave of slime, Lime practically leaped from her position to hug around Ranma's neck and place a kiss right on his lips, her slime turning out to be surprisingly tasty as he reflexively swallowed some of it. Wait, did he just swallow-

"Thank you, Ranma. I really appreciate it," said Lime sincerely as she pulled back, her thighs already starting to envelop him below the waist once again.

The martial artist barely had a moment to acknowledge her thanks before Alice's hands were back, one arm wrapping around his neck and the other moving back to his groin as Lime spread out over the front of his body and begin to massage him anew.

A final thought slipped through his mind before a fresh wave of pleasure crashed into him, causing his eyes to roll back and his body to surrender to their embrace.

 _This is all your fault, Ryoga!_


	2. Chapter 2: Blade Dance

"That slime girl did something to me."

Alice gave Ranma a blank look. "Yes. She did. We monsters refer to it as a blow-"

"No! I mean...yes, but she did something more than that! You were doing it too!"

"It's called feeding," said Alice, maintaining her flat tone. "It's another thing we monsters do."

"I meant _how_ you were doing it. When she was...when you were feeding, your energy was...trying to push into me to replace the energy I lost. Like you were trying to weaken me when I..."

"When you spilled your love juice into her body," finished Alice. "Why are you so reluctant talking about this anyways? You said yourself you don't know anything about Ilias."

"Ilias has nothing to do with it! That sort of thing just doesn't happen where I'm from!" snapped Ranma, trying to hide his embarrassment.

Alice smiled. "So oral play isn't a thing where you're from?"

"Gah!" Ranma sucked in a breath and forced himself to calm down. She was teasing him and he kept rising to her bait. "Look, that energy she tried to push into me-"

"She didn't do it on purpose," interrupted Alice. "It's just how monsters work. You release energy when you achieve climax and a monster's energy slips in to replace it, weakening your body so they can continue feeding. Most monsters don't even consciously know they do it, only that it works."

"Oh...yeah, that would explain it," finished Ranma, pushing a log with his foot to keep the campfire in check. It had been some time since he'd really been roughing it like this, but a forest was a forest in any world it seemed, and acquiring enough materials for a fire, a shelter, and even a makeshift bed wasn't a difficult feat. He'd even managed to forage a pretty decent meal with a bit of help from Alice's traveler's guide, though all he'd needed was a glance to determine that the plants and berries were pretty much the same here as they were back home.

"So where are you going?"

"Iliasburg first," said Ranma, thinking back to the maps and books he'd seen in the temple's hospital. "Need some camping supplies and some actual food for the road. Not sure how I'm gonna get money, but I'll look for something while I'm there. After that? North to Sentora and probably Grangold. Guide I read said something about them being the most technologically advanced city in the world, so if anything can help me get back home, it'd probably be that."

"What's your home like?" asked Alice curiously.

Ranma thought for a moment. "Lot more crowded. And noisy. There aren't many quiet places like this. The air isn't as good, either. No monsters though...at least not like you or Lime. Speaking of...should I be setting traps?"

Alice shook her head. "They won't approach while I'm here. Most of the monsters roaming the wild are...simple minded. Their instincts will keep them away."

"Oh...thanks, I guess," said Ranma as he lay back onto the grass with a sigh. "So why are you following me then?"

"Because you can cook and I'm heading in the same direction," said Alice simply. "In every direction, really. This is the first time I've ever been outside of Hellgondo and I want to see the world."

"Really? Sounded more like you wanted to wipe out humanity."

"Shut up, I was in a bad mood," said Alice with a huff. "You try getting knocked fifteen hundred feet from the air to the ground and see what kind of mood you're in when you wake up."

It was tempting to point out how much of an overreaction that was, but Ranma thought better of it. Unlike Akane, Alice was actually threatening...at least when she wasn't pouting like a spoiled child.

"I don't hate humans," she continued, a bit more somber. "Although their blind devotion to Ilias is insufferably irritating. The priests at the temple could barely go two sentences without mentioning her name."

"I take it she's not a monster fan?" asked Ranma.

"Her teachings stop short of outright genocide, but they encourage indirect genocide, since one of her edicts is that humans aren't allowed to have sexual relations with monsters. If all humans followed that, none of us would be able to feed or procreate."

"Procre...wait, are there no male monsters in the world?" The surprise was clear in Ranma's voice.

"None that I've seen. One is born on exceptionally rare occasions, but all the monsters in this world right now are female."

"That's...crazy." There really was no other word for it. Magic of some kind had to be involved.

"That's one word for it. I'm going to get some sleep." Rising up from her place beside the campfire, the lamia slithered towards a tree and then coiled around it, spiraling upward swiftly before settling around one of the branches.

"Huh...well I suppose if it's comfortable," murmured Ranma before slipping into his own makeshift tent and settling in for the night.

* * *

"Iliasburg...famed for being the base of operations of the Traveler's Inns, various famous foods such as their Happiness Honey, and being the first stop for many adventurers on their long quests," read Ranma aloud as he walked, with Alice following a ways behind in her lamia form.

"I plan to thoroughly indulge myself while I'm there," said Alice. "Happiness Honey is said to be one of Ilias' Continent's most delectable delicacies."

"Do you have any money?" asked Ranma pointedly. "I'm not even sure what type of currency this world uses."

"Gold."

Ranma blinked. "Like...literal gold?"

"Only one type of gold I know of. Also, monster."

"But that means- huh?" His head turned and Alice suddenly vanished, all traces of her presence disappearing from his senses. A moment later, something was blocking the path.

"A traveler? Unbaptized? You look delicious."

On first glance, Ranma might have mistaken her for a human female...if he'd been blindfolded and beaten senseless. Despite wearing a long dress and fancy bonnet, the creature's deathly pale skin and strange eyes were instant giveaways to her true nature even before her aura became noticeable. Although...

"Okay, I give up. What kind of monster are you?" asked Ranma curiously.

Slowly, the pale girl reached a hand down to her dress and began to pull it upward, revealing a pink mass underneath where a pair of legs might have been. "Slug," said the woman with a smile, slowly sliding across the ground toward him.

"Huh. Neat." Taking a sharp turn, Ranma briefly deviated from the path and walked around her at a quick pace and then rejoined the path, leaving her behind.

"H-hey, wait!" Flustered, the slug girl tried her best to catch up, but Ranma was already a fair distance away and making space, his walking speed easily able to outstrip the much slower slug girl.

"Sorry, kind of in a hurry," said Ranma over his shoulder, barely even turning his attention away from the traveler's guide. "Weird, all these places have different names than Ilias..."

"You're really just going to leave her back there?"

Ranma didn't even flinch at Alice's sudden appearance, though it still irked him a bit that he couldn't sense it. "Should I have fought her or something? She seemed about as threatening as Lime."

"Well she probably would have tried to catch you, feed on you, and then press you into marriage," said Alice casually.

Ranma twitched slightly. "I suppose I could go back and punch her a few times."

"Forget it. I want some Happiness Honey."

Closing the guide, Ranma idly spun it on a finger before tossing it back to Alice. "You still haven't said how you're going to pay for it."

"Well maybe if you'd beaten that Slug Girl, you could have gotten some gold coins from her."

"You mean like...shake her down?"

"Isn't that what adventurers do?"

"I don't know, I'm not an adventurer. And I'm definitely not a thief." Well...he usually wasn't a thief. He wasn't a petty thief at least.

"If we don't get any Happiness Honey, it's going to be your fault then," concluded Alice with a huff.

"Why don't _you_ have any money? I thought you were interested in traveling the world."

"That was only partially the reason I left Hellgondo," she began, only to cut off abruptly. Just like before, she'd instantly disappeared.

"Will you stop doing- " began Ranma, only to pause as he sensed a faint aura beneath the ground. "Really? Right in the middle of the road?" he muttered while carefully stepping around several suspicious looking fronds peeking up from the dirt. Like clockwork, Alice was back by his side a moment later.

"What was that one going to do? Try to feed on me as well?"

"Unlikely. She probably would have just screamed at you for waking her up and then moved somewhere else."

"If she's trying to sleep, why is she in the middle of a road?"

"Because she's not very bright," said Alice simply. "At least you had the sense to step around her."

"I could sense her aura from fifty feet away...unlike yours," grumbled Ranma. "How are you doing that, anyways?"

"Lots of practice. It would be troublesome if too many monsters saw me on this continent, and it's not as though you need my help dealing with them."

That made a certain amount of sense. She was clearly a powerful and important monster of some kind, and if there was a conflict between monsters and humans, helping him could put her in a bad spot. Although now he couldn't help but wonder just how important she really was.

"Are you queen of some kind? Or a princess?" he ventured.

"Something like that," answered Alice, not at all helpfully.

Ranma shrugged and turned back to the road as the two of them crested a hill. At the top, he could see Iliasburg in the distance, stretched out along a cliffside and rising above the forest. Houses were packed in rather snugly with one another, although no building rose higher than the church at the top of the incline, giving it the effect of 'looking over' the rest of the town. Beside him, Alice had already slipped back into her human disguise.

"Wouldn't it be easier to just find a real set of clothes rather than having to manipulate your aura all the time?" asked Ranma.

"Do you think I'd be any less conspicuous with a dress?" retorted Alice pointedly.

Ranma took a moment to look at her. Long silver hair, an intricate flower arrangement entwining with the strands, and bright golden eyes...

"No, probably not," he agreed with a shake of his head before suddenly coming to a stop. "What in the-" The peaceful afternoon air was now rippling with an immense amount of power, comparable to what he'd first felt from Alice during their conflict. Unlike hers, however, this show of power felt...calculated. Almost as though it were a challenge to anyone who could feel it.

Beside him, Alice had stopped as well, a frown on her face as she looked toward the town. "What is she doing here?" she mumbled, just loud enough for Ranma to hear.

"Who?"

"You'll see. Unless you were planning to run away from this monster too," said Alice with a small smile.

Ranma hesitated. "Weren't you worried about me beating up monsters just a bit ago?"

"Not this one. And even if you did, it would probably only make things worse for you."

"Worse how?"

"Looks like she's attacking the town," said Alice, swiftly changing the subject. "She's probably cut her way through most of the guards by now."

"What? I thought-"

"Not every monster is after a meal you moron."

Ranma didn't need any further prompting, leaving Alice in the dust as he ran toward the oppressive aura. No gate guards. Obviously they were dealing with the threat inside. The streets were mostly abandoned as well, with the town feeling eerily silent, save for the increasingly loud clashes of steel that Ranma was rapidly approaching.

The sight that greeted him in the central square around the water fountain was not what he was expecting. As Alice had predicted, the monster had cut her way through multiple guards. Bodies were laid out everywhere with severed weapons, deep gashes in their armor, and dented helmets...but there was no blood. In fact, none of the armored soldiers even seemed to be seriously injured, simply knocked unconscious. That in and of itself spoke to an impressive level of skill.

Finally, Ranma laid eyes on the monster herself. Green scales, strong looking claws, pointed ears and strange looking fins close to her neck...a dragon! He was looking at an actual dragon! The sight was surreal enough to give him pause and watch as she eyed the remaining three soldiers in the plaza with a cool look.

"How boring. Is there not a single strong person in this entire city?" The dragongirl challenged.

"Guh! We'll never surrender to monsters like you!" Wielding a spear, the first guard charged, closely followed by the second.

"Too slow!" In a flash, the heavy metal blade at her side was in her hands, slashing out with blinding speed. The spear fell away in pieces, and a second later she vanished, appearing at the guard's back and bringing the hilt of her blade down hard against his helmet. The second barely had time to turn around before the dragon's next strike disarmed him and sent his blade skidding across the ground. Her third strike dropped him with a heavy stab to his stomach that dented his armor inward but didn't break the skin beneath.

The whole engagement had taken less than five seconds.

Finally, only one guard remained. Ranma could plainly feel the fear in his aura as the dragon swordswoman wreathed her blade in fire. "Well? Is this it? Are you going to let your town be taken over by a monster?" she taunted.

"You know, I think you made your point. Do you really need to make him wet his pants, too?" Ranma resisted the urge to react as the dragon girl whirled around and pointed her blade at him.

"You...you managed to hide your presence from me," she said slowly. "Who are you?"

"Ranma Saotome of the Anything Goes School of Martial Arts. Hey, soldier guy," he called out to the trembling guard behind her. "Beat it. I'm gonna need some room here."

The guard didn't need to be told twice and the dragon didn't even spare him a glance. "I am Granberia, the swordsman of fire and Heavenly Knight to the Monster Lord. Are you here to defend this town?"

"Nah. I'm just curious why you're wasting your time with a bunch of weaklings," said Ranma simply, his arms casually resting behind his head.

"Ilias continent is a breeding ground for heroes and adventurers seeking to kill the monster lord," replied Granberia, sticking her sword into the ground and crossing her arms beneath her chest. "It only makes sense to cut them off at the source."

Idly, Ranma cast a glance at the numerous bodies laid out around the plaza in various states of injury. Some had regained consciousness and were crawling away from the field of battle, but none of them would be up and fighting again anytime soon. "This is what you're worried about? Really? How long did this take you, a half hour?"

"Half that. Maybe I was a bit impulsive, but it drew you out of hiding, didn't it? You seem like you'll give me a proper challenge."

"I...guess I can't say you didn't," said Ranma with a sigh. He'd really walked into that one. Taking a breath, the martial artist slipped into a stance, a fist at his side and a single hand extended forward.

Granberia gave him a curious look as she took the heavy blade at her side into her hands. The thing looked less like a slashing implement and more like a heavy hunk of metal. Crude in design, but no doubt effective. "No weapon?"

"Never needed one before."

"I see. It's been some time since I've fought a monk. Show me your strength!"

Ranma's form blurred, and suddenly he was inches away from Granberia, his fist landing hard against her armored chest. There was a brief flicker of surprise, a grin, and then Ranma was on the defensive, her sword a gray streak as she retaliated, powerful slashes missing him by inches as he gave ground, then took it back with a quick pivot and a hard strike to her side. Her blade was upon him instantly, slicing straight through his shirt and nicking the skin underneath. Off-balance, her next strike would have cleaved him in two if he hadn't jumped away, landing neatly on the edge of the fountain.

"Yes...this is exactly what I've been waiting for! Again!"

Not wasting a breath, Ranma indulged her, coming in low, only to kick up into the air at the last moment and twist past her adjusted sword strike, his foot sweeping around and striking her shoulder. When her retaliatory blow came, Ranma was ready, kicking off her wrist to keep his momentum in the air and land a second blow to her neck while being carried past her strike. Or at least, that had been the plan before she abandoned the grip on her sword and grabbed his ankle, flinging him away.

Flipping in the air, Ranma landed on the ground just in time to see Granberia bearing down on him. "Chaos Star!" she roared.

"Kachuu Tenshin Amaguriken!"

Blurred fists met a blurred blade, the martial artist focusing intently as his flurry of punches nudged, prodded, and just barely moved the sword aside with each strike to avoid having his arms cut to ribbons. Even then, it was near impossible to catch every blow and cuts opened up on his arms, though at the same time, a few punches managed to sneak through, putting nice, solid dents in her armor.

Eventually though, Ranma was forced to retreat, disengaging with a swift kick off the ground and a leap into the air. Putting his hand out, Ranma focused his ki and called out his attack.

"Moko Takabisha!"

A bright ball of energy formed at his fingers and rocketed towards the dragon. There was another brief flicker of surprise as she saw it streaking toward her before her blade flashed out and cut it cleanly down the middle, the energy detonating on either side of her in a cloud of dust.

"Fascinating. I didn't think there were any humans like you left in the world," said Granberia appreciatively. "But you're still holding back. Show me your true strength!"

Landing some distance away, Ranma took a moment to catch his breath. "How do you figure?"

"You're a monk. Your type always have dozens of special techniques and you never lead with your strongest ones," she observed. "But if you want me to force them out of you, then fine by me!"

The sound of claws upon stone filled the air as Granberia raised her blade high. A stabbing attack?

"Thunder Thrust!" A mere dozen feet away and Granberia's form vanished. Instinctively, Ranma threw himself to the side just in time for Granberia to reappear, her sword cutting deep into his side. Biting his lip, Ranma forced himself to focus, his body twisting and his arm sweeping around to slam into her side, staggering her for a brief moment and giving him a chance to leap away again.

Granberia didn't pursue, though she kept her sword at the ready as she watched Ranma push ki to the wound to rapidly close it. "Fast, but not fast enough."

Ranma's eyes narrowed and his body straightened, his arms coming back up into a ready stance. "One more time."

The dragon smirked and raised her blade again. "Don't blink."

Ranma didn't. Instead he closed his eyes, focusing entirely on her aura. The wind was picking up again, almost as though she were directing it to enhance the speed of her attack. The noise of her claws hitting the ground increased in speed until they were almost a single unbroken sound. The stab came out, and then her entire aura seemed to slip to the side.

"There!" His palm lashed out, the very point of the sword just barely nicking his finger before he struck the flat of the blade, knocking it aside. His second palm strike hit center of mass, adding another fist-sized dent to Granberia's armor, and the third shattered the plate entirely, exposing her midriff and sending her flying back.

"Moko Takabisha!" Trusting that she was far from finished, Ranma sent a ki blast after her, and he wasn't disappointed as she suddenly righted herself and landed on the ground feet first, her sword sweeping upward to deflect the ki blast.

Instead of cutting it like the last one, the blade seemed to almost 'stick' to the energy he'd thrown before she shifted her grip and slashed downward. Suddenly, his own energy was shooting back towards him in the shape of a crescent, tearing up the ground as it streaked back to him. Thankfully, it wasn't a fast attack, but the power was immense, raising the hairs on Ranma's arm as it passed by him and detonated against the fountain, utterly destroying the structure and sending water everywhere. Amazingly, none of it splashed on him.

Setting her sword aside, Granberia calmly undid some of the straps of her armor and let the damaged part fall away. "A serene state of mind...it's been a while since I've fought another who mastered it."

"Serene...what?"

"I suppose a monk might have a different name for it," said Granberia, readying her sword again. "But you're not the only one who can use that form."

The dragon's stance shifted and the air around her seemed to change. The fire and bloodlust was almost entirely gone and the wind around her died completely, leaving just her swaying form. Then, she struck.

It wasn't as fast as her gale thrust, but the blade still moved at a near blinding speed, not a sliver of energy wasted as she slashed across his chest, opening up a large cut on his shirt and a red line on his skin. His retaliation came quick, but like water, she seemed to flow around it, moving the barest minimum possible before striking again, sections of his shirt falling away as he was only just avoiding the attacks. It was similar to how he'd read her Thunder Thrust, but she was incorporating it into her entire being.

Well...two could play at that game.

Calming himself, Ranma closed his eyes and let his aura expand. Granberia was a bright flame in his mind and her sword was a mere extension of herself. Each movement she made sent a ripple through the stillness around him. When his eyes opened again, everything except Granberia seemed to fade from view...and then they clashed.

To an outside observer, it might have looked like a dance. Each movement perfectly choreographed as fists skimmed against scales and the blade delicately severed a few hairs from Ranma's head. Gouges appeared in the stone ground beneath them with each missed sword-strike, neither one of them managing to land anything more than a glancing blow. The movements were getting faster, too, the dance becoming more deadly by the moment as the two serene fighters moved fully with the flow.

And then, Granberia's sword caught fire.

"Vaporizing Rebellion Sword!"

The call out was more of a warning than a declaration. It still didn't help. Fire fueled her blade and her movements both as she flipped from a serene state to an all-out attack with barely a break in stride. Dozens upon dozens of sword strikes rained down on Ranma, searing his skin even as he dodged and deflected what he could. The final thrust forward came at lightning speed, opening up a wound on his chest and sending him flying back to land on his knees.

"It's been a long time since someone has pushed me this far," said Granberia calmly. "You have my respect, Ranma Saotome. But this match is mine."

Ranma coughed and spat up a bit of blood. "You're...not bad yourself," he got out, slowly rising to his feet. His clothing was in tatters now, and what remained was badly seared. A good deal of his ki was being dedicated to keeping his wounds closed and the pain at bay, but he couldn't surrender. Not when victory was so close.

"I admire your resilience, but if you persist, I will put you down," warned the dragoness, readying her blade.

"Show me...one more time."

"Hmm?"

"Your technique. Vaporizing Rebellion Sword. Show me...one more time."

"If you wish to die that badly-"

"You won't hit me a second time," Ranma lied through his teeth. Already the world around him was fading into that serene state once more. This was going to take all of his concentration.

"I see. Very well then." Her sword ignited, the heat causing sweat to drip down Ranma's brow. "Vaporizing Rebellion Sword!"

The attack came, and Ranma moved. Searing blow after searing blow swept past him, cutting into his skin and burning his flesh, but Ranma continued to retreat, leading Granberia in a very particular pattern even as his legs threatened to give out. She wasn't angry, but Ranma had all the heat he needed, and as he came closer and closer to the center of the technique, his mind slipped further and further into the soul of ice.

Then, as the final stab came, Ranma's fist met it.

"Hiryu Shoten Ha!"

His shout was practically lost to the sudden raging winds that formed from his fist, the hot and cold energies clashing and sweeping Granberia off her feet and into the air. Gale force winds battered her from every side as she struggled to hold on to her blade, but Ranma wasn't going to give her a chance to recover. Leaping into the tornado, Ranma rode the air currents straight to her, slamming into her back with a shoulder before unleashing a barrage of punches, kicks, and a finishing heel drop right to her stomach.

With a resounding crash, Granberia hit the ground below, her blade landing several feet away. Ranma's landing was only a bit more graceful, his entire body trembling as his feet hit the ground and promptly gave out, forcing him to one knee.

Slowly, Ranma reached a hand over to the dragon's head and lightly tapped the front of her helm with his knuckle. "I win."

Confident that his opponent was unconscious, Ranma let himself fall back onto his rear, breathing a sigh of relief. The area around them was completely destroyed. Deep gouges lined the stone ground and the fountain was spilling water everywhere. The dozens of guards that Granberia had laid out were mercifully unharmed, and it looked like a good majority of them had either managed to crawl away on their own, or had been dragged to safety. Internally, he berated himself for forgetting their presence in the heat of the moment. It was a small miracle that none of the collateral damage had hit one of them.

"Now this...this feels like home," said Ranma with a chuckle, closing his eyes and relaxing. Already he could sense the people who had barricaded themselves in their homes cautiously peeking out now that the noise had ceased.

"One more..." Ranma nearly yelped as a warm, scaly hand grabbed onto his wrist. A pair of determined golden eyes looked up at him as the dragon woman kept a death grip on his wrist and pulled herself up next to him. "Show me...that technique one more time."

For a moment, Ranma was ready to strike out, but her sword was still several dozen feet away and she seemed far more interested in the technique than continuing the fight. "It's...a little complicated," he began.

"You were leading me in a spiral. Right at the center, you did something with your energy that turned my flames against me."

 _One demonstration was all it took..._

"Are you idiots done yet?"

"Gah! Will you stop doing that?" snapped Ranma, turning behind him where Alice had suddenly appeared.

Granberia's head also turned and her eyes widened. "My lord!" Shaking from her injuries, the dragon woman still managed to shift her body and bring herself to one knee, bowing her head to Alice.

"What are you doing here, Granberia?" asked Alice, the annoyance clear in her voice. "Was there something unclear about my edict?"

"No, of course not! But...when you left to fight her-" she began.

"Idiot. How was this supposed to help me?"

"This is her bastion of support. All of the heroes come from here. I thought that if I-"

"Go away, you annoyance. I came here to try some Happiness Honey and I can't do that if the town is destroyed."

Granberia hesitated for a moment, looking between Ranma and Alice before her expression shifted into one of determination. "I'm sorry, my lord, but I can't do that. This human is a threat to you."

Ranma coughed. "What? How?"

"Your abilities. They're strange and powerful. They could pose a significant risk to my lord."

"I'm already keeping an eye on him," interrupted Alice. "And I've fought with him already. There is no significant threat to myself."

"Hey! Come on now- "

"Nevertheless, I must insist, Lord Alipheese. I can't back down now."

"You just want a rematch."

Granberia's eyes darted to the side. Was that a tinge of red on her cheeks?

"Perhaps...I could accompany you?" She offered. "I realize you are entirely capable of protecting yourself, my lord, but there are many threats in the world, and I feel as though Ranma hasn't shown you everything he's capable of."

Alice sighed, crossing her arms beneath her breasts as she looked at her subordinate. "It irritates me that you're making a compelling case even while lying through your teeth. Still, I wasn't aware this idiot could form tornadoes with his bare hands."

"That's not exactly how the technique works," Ranma protested.

"Fine, you can travel with us," said Alice. "Just so long as you put your duties as a knight first and your crazy battle tendencies second."

"My lord, I would never-"

"And get out of town. I'm never going to get any Happiness Honey if everyone is too afraid to leave their houses."

"Of course, Lord Alipheese. I will meet you outside the city when you're ready to leave," said Granberia, finally managing to get to her feet and make her way toward the gate.

Alice watched her go with a frown on her face. "Unbelievable. I told you that beating her was only going to make things more troublesome."

Struggling to his feet, Ranma silently agreed. Surprisingly, his ascent was helped by a hand on his arm and a gentle pull, the disguised monster easily holding him steady. "I didn't really have a lot of options," he groaned.

"You could have not fought her. You're not even from this world. Why should you care what happens to a town like this?" asked Alice. Despite the coldness of her words, Ranma didn't feel as though she were judging him, but rather genuinely curious of his reasoning.

"Maybe I shouldn't," he agreed. "But I'm not that type of person. I see something like this happen in front of me and I can't just do nothing."

Alice was silent for a long moment before shaking her head. For a brief instant, Ranma could have sworn he'd seen a smile on her face. "Are you sure you're not one of Ilias' brain-dead heroes? Because that's the kind of line one would use."

"Is she gone?"

"She's gone! Those two drove her away!"

"Did you see that tornado? That was amazing!"

"I could barely see either of them move!"

People were starting to spill out into the streets now. Some were checking on the unconscious soldiers but a good deal of them were crowding around him and Alice, eager to get a look at the 'heroes' that had driven off Granberia.

"He didn't even use a weapon!"

"What's your name, hero?"

"You idiots, give the hero some space. Can't you see how beat up he is?"

"Three cheers for the hero of Iliasburg!"

Despite the enthusiastic crowd around them, Alice's pace continued forward, parting them easily as she held Ranma by the arm. "Come on, 'hero', we're clearly done traveling for the day."

"We still don't have any money, you know..."

"But you're a hero now," said Alice sweetly. "And you nearly got run through and burned to a crisp for your trouble, so maybe just be quiet and enjoy the benefits."

* * *

Ranma couldn't remember a time when he'd spent a night in a luxurious location such as this. The training trip had been a series of forests, caves, and abandoned houses. The Tendo Dojo was comfortable, but not fancy. This, however, was luxury with a capital L.

Everything about the room spoke of money and wealth. Large, human sized portraits of heroes and monsters doing battle lined the walls, coupled with thick red curtains that opened on incredible views of the town below.

The furniture pieces in the room were no less spectacular. Calling the large bed in the room 'King' sized didn't do it justice. It could have easily fitted Alice's entire snake body and then some, even if she was stretched out all the way, and pillows of all shapes and sizes were nestled at the head of the bed like a miniature fort.

At the moment, both he and Alice were seated at the dining table, making quick work of the feast that the inn owner had delivered to them within minutes of showing them to the room. Ranma's clothes had been taken, and in their place was a large, white fluffy bathrobe that was warm enough to fall asleep in.

"Just for the record, this still feels wrong," said Ranma in between bites.

On the other end, Alice was matching him bite for bite, showing an appetite not unlike his own. "You'd sound more convincing if your mouth wasn't full."

"It's not in my nature to pass up a free meal." And he definitely wasn't about to let food this good go to waste.

"Then stop complaining, hero boy," concluded Alice smugly, finishing off another set of honey topped Ama-Ama Dango and adding another plate to the small mountain that had accumulated between the two of them. "Besides, I'm sure the Ilias Church wouldn't mind treating you after you drove off Granberia."

"Something tells me they wouldn't be quite so happy to be treating a monster," countered Ranma. "Speaking of...Granberia called you a lord. What exactly are you a lord of anyways?"

"Hellgondo," said Alice simply.

Ranma thought back to the map again and his chewing slowed. "Isn't that the name of the continent?"

"Yes." Without missing a beat, Alice's lamia form wavered and shifted into her human one right as the door opened, admitting the inn hostess with a cart to clean off the numerous empty plates and dishes.

"Well now, I was going to ask if you were enjoying my cooking, but the cleaned plates speak for themselves," said the owner jovially.

"A perfect blend of sweetness and natural tastes. The honey is expertly applied to not overpower the other flavors. Truly a masterwork of cooking. If you were a monster, I'd make you a duchess."

"Haha..what a strange remark young lady!"

Ranma fought the urge to rub his head and sigh. Fortunately, the owner seemed to think it was just a joke of some kind.

"Unfortunately, we haven't been able to get enough Happiness Honey lately. Something has been happening at Happiness Village and the men have been disappearing. Although I suppose a skilled pair of heroes would be able to sort out a problem like that easily."

"Um..." began Ranma.

"It would certainly be worth letting you stay here for another night or two. It might even be worth a permanent discount and VIP treatment."

"We'll look into it," said Alice instantly.

"What?"

"This inn is clearly the lifeblood of the city," said Alice, matter-of-fact. "You wouldn't want her to go out of business now, would you?"

Ranma stared at her before slowly looking around at the absurdly luxurious room. "You know...I don't really think the lack of one ingredient is going to be that bad."

"Well, you're a hero type, aren't you? Isn't this the kind of thing you're supposed to do?" pressed Alice.

From the corner of his eye, Ranma could see the hostess looking at him expectantly. Inwardly he cursed. "Yes...that is exactly the kind of thing we as heroes would do."

"Wonderful! It warms my heart to see that Ilias can still provide us heroes worth a damn in these troubled and uncertain times. You two have a good night now, and be sure to ring the bell if there's anything you need."

Ranma waited until her footsteps were completely out of earshot before glaring at Alice who had already returned to her monster form. "Will you knock it off with the hero thing? You already exploited a couple hundred thousand gold from this inn."

"I didn't hear you complaining when she offered us the hero rate," retorted Alice. "Are you saying that you don't want to help that poor village under siege by vicious monsters? If you're feeling so guilty about staying here for free, then maybe you should help her out."

"Why do you care about what's going on in a human village anyways? I thought everyone on this continent was an Ilias worshiper in your eyes," accused Ranma. "It can't just be because you want more Happiness Honey."

Alice was silent for a long moment. "...it's really good honey."

Ranma groaned. "Damn glutton."

"The term is gourmet," she retorted. "Besides, you ate just as much as I did. Maybe even more."

Looking down at the numerous empty plates that hadn't fit on the cart the owner had brought in, Ranma mumbled under his breath. "...it _is_ good honey."

"It's not as though Grangold is going anywhere. Besides, the royalty there will probably be far more open to talking with an accomplished hero than some nobody claiming they're from another world."

That...was actually a pretty good point. If that sort of technology and magic did exist in this world, it was probably a closely guarded secret. "Alright, fine, we'll go. Now can you tell me why you really want to go?"

Alice shrugged and cleaned off the final plate of food. "Monster lord business."

"That's all you're gonna tell me?"

"Why should you care what's going on with a bunch of monsters? Every one you've met has attacked you so far."

"Most humans do that to me," retorted Ranma. "But if you don't want to tell me, fine."

"I would be more than happy to bore you with the politics of monsters and humans, but I'm hungry right now. For dessert."

"Bell is right next to you," said Ranma.

The martial artist was halfway to his feet before he caught Alice's playful, yet predatory look, a sudden chill going down his spine. "No, absolutely not," he said quickly.

"Really? Weren't you curious about that technique the slime girl used on you? I'm quite good at it myself," said Alice, idly flicking her fingers toward the door to the room, a faint black aura appearing around the handle and the cracks in the door.

"I'm not that curious, and I'm still injured." That was a partial truth. A shower and a big meal had done wonders to help his energy recover and his body to heal. His eyes flicked to the barrier around the door. Could he break through it in time? Maybe he could jump out one of the windows or go through a wall...

"This is going to happen one of two ways, Ranma," said Alice, her tongue slowly sliding across her lips while her tail quivered behind her. "Either you follow me to the bed and we have a nice time, or you try to run, and I drag you back to the bed for a nice time."

The chill going down his spine suddenly turned to a shiver. He'd felt something similar at times back in Nerima when Shampoo was feeling particularly aggressive, but never something as intense as this. Worse yet, he couldn't even describe the feeling as 'unpleasant'.

The bathrobe was off in a second, the white fluffy missile streaking toward Alice, billowing outward and blocking her view as a boxer clad Ranma made his bid for freedom, aiming toward the window, angling his shoulder forward and preparing to smash the glass, only for his body to suddenly be rebuffed by that strange dark energy and send him stumbling back.

Around him, similar energy was seeping out from the walls, the floor, and even the ceiling. Alice hadn't even moved from her spot at the table and was calmly folding up the robe Ranma had thrown at her. "You're not going to escape that easily. Consider this practice, just in case a different monster tries something similar on you."

Ranma bolted and Alice moved, her coils pushing her from the table at an incredibly quick pace. Her coils moved independently of her upper body, pushing off the ground at odd angles, letting her move side to side, and even quite rapidly backwards as she slowly boxed the martial artist in. Eventually, she had him cornered, forcing him to make a desperate leap above her head...or at least try to.

Mentally, he blamed it on the injuries he'd taken from his fight with Granberia and the fact that he was feeling so relaxed after a large meal. Ultimately, he still ended up caught in Alice's arms, locked against her chest, and looking into her eyes which were glowing and coaxing him into a relaxed state. He was already starting to fight back against it, but even the brief moment of paralysis was enough for Alice to employ her coils.

Warm, scaly lengths closed around him, starting with his upper body, pinning his arms to his sides first and quickly moving onto his legs. His struggles were short lived, as the dark energy followed the tight squeeze of her coils, coaxing him to relax and go limp. Then, just as she'd promised, Alice's body began to move, slowly pulling him over to the bed.

"No slime girl to steal part of my meal this time," she murmured into his ear while stretching herself across the bed, pulling Ranma with her and slowly shifting her coils so that his back was pressed against her stomach and his head was resting on her chest.

Alice's aura was overwhelming. He'd felt it before with Lime, but she was a candle compared to Alice's inferno, and the effect only seemed to be even more potent now that he was bound in her coils. More and more, it was becoming impossible not to focus on how nice her scales felt against his skin as they twisted and squeezed his limbs, or the way they seemed to massage him as he lay trapped, pulling him further into a lethargic state.

Despite how hungry she'd claimed to be, Alice seemed more than content to tease him as his struggles died down. Those smooth, latex gloves traced over his bare chest in random patterns while her warm breath passed over his ear with each word she spoke. A gap in her coils had left his boxers exposed, and the tip of her tail was already starting to slide toward the 'opening'.

"Most monsters aren't going to be merciful enough to use a sword," murmured Alice into his ear, her tongue just barely flicking across his skin. "They'll go right for this weak point of yours, and if you aren't prepared, you'll be helpless."

"I can protect this part just fine!" sputtered Ranma, making a herculean effort to break free, only to fall still as she tightened around him and traced the tip of her tail along his single remaining piece of clothing.

"Keep working on it," teased Alice, this time fully licking his ear, exploiting yet another sensitive spot Ranma hadn't known existed on his body. "In the meantime, I'll take my meal and give you a bit of training. A win for both of us, wouldn't you agree?"

"No!"

"Well then you'd better learn how to counter my technique sooner rather than later," murmured Alice, giving Ranma's cheek a playful kiss before her tail struck.

* * *

 _Lemon removed per site policy. Look for this story under Archive of Our Own or Adult-Fanficion for the cut content._

* * *

"You're trying to get me killed," accused Ranma. "First Lime and now Granberia."

"Hardly. Lime was an experiment. Granberia was a reward."

"How was that a reward?!"

"More a reward for her than for you," admitted Alice.

"What?! But she-nhhh!" Ranma's cry was cut off as the inert coils draped over his body suddenly tightened, stilling his squirming and forcing him to relax. He wasn't sure how much time had passed since Granberia and Alice had made him faint, but he'd awoken still bound in Alice's coils, her chest against his back and her chin on top of his head.

"She needed that. If dragon monsters like her don't feed, they tend to do stupid things. Like go out and attack innocent towns and bully opponents far weaker than them."

Ranma grumbled under his breath but soon fell silent. It was difficult to hold on to his anger when his body was feeling so relaxed and lethargic, and even when she wasn't doing something perverted, just being wrapped up in Alice's coils was soothing, making it hard not to drift off again.

"What exactly was stopping her from feeding before?"

"Pride. It's a common trait in dragons. But at least now she has a target to focus on."

Ranma groaned. "You're joking."

"I told you it was going to be troublesome if you beat her," reminded Alice.

"I don't suppose you could-"

"Nope.

"I didn't even-"

"You don't have to. You chose to fight her, you deal with the consequences. I'm not going to step into the middle of that." Alice's coils shifted, her head coming into view, her golden eyes seeming to glow in the dim light of the room. "Unless you actually want to become my subordinate. Then I could protect you from the big, bad dragon."

"No thanks, you're already pushing me toward death without ordering me around."

"Suit yourself then," said Alice, relaxing once more against his back and securing her coils around his body.

"...you're not going back to your own room, are you?"

"Nope. Although if you're having trouble relaxing..."

"No, it's fine!" said Ranma quickly.

"Good."

Even with his back turned, the martial artist could feel her smile as her coils settled around him, bringing an unfamiliar but not entirely unwelcome warmth and comfort that was already starting to help ease him back to sleep. Despite his better judgment telling him what a bad idea this was, Ranma couldn't help but feel relaxed, and soon he was asleep in the monster's embrace.


	3. Chapter 3: Side Quests

"Sounded like you two had fun last night."

Ranma nearly choked on his food. "You heard that?"

"Not a peep! But I have a pretty good instinct about these sorts of things." said the innkeeper with a wink.

Alice didn't even seem fazed by the owner's teasing, merely taking another pastry and devouring it. "It was a hundred-thousand gold bed. It would have been a shame not to use it."

"Can we talk about something else? Like...anything else?"

"So are you two a couple?" asked the owner, speaking to Alice and completely ignoring Ranma's plea.

"More like casual partners at the moment," said Alice calmly.

The owner smiled. "Might want to snatch him up quick. You never know when a monster might try to steal him away from you."

Alice's mouth quirked upward. "I pity the poor monster that would try to catch him."

"What's that supposed to mean?" snapped Ranma.

"It means you'd be more trouble for a monster than you're worth to catch, provided you don't throw a tornado at them," said Alice sweetly.

"I told you my technique doesn't work...you know what? Forget it. We've got to get going to that Happiness place," grumbled Ranma as he took to his feet.

"Sit down and finish your meal, dear," said Alice, her voice dripping with false affection. "It's the least you can do after she went to all the trouble of making it and giving you a new set of clothes."

Ranma paused, halfway up from his seat, looking at his half-finished meal before slumping back down with a sigh. "Should have just let Granberia take this town..."

"Hmm? What was that?" asked the owner.

"Nothing!" said Ranma quickly, stuffing his mouth full to make sure his foot couldn't fit into it again. He had to admit, the new clothes were a step up from the ones Granberia had torched. While he wasn't enthusiastic about the mixture of green and blue colors, the shirt had a weight to it that reminded him of his old karate gi, and the heavier, more durable pants were far more suited for traveling.

"I'll tell you, it's a real blessing from Ilias that you two showed up. That dragon woman has just been the latest in a series of ongoing problems. Magical storms cutting off Iliasport, kidnappings in Happiness Village, and just a couple weeks ago, a fearsome group of bandits led by a vampire and a dragon moved in and have been terrorizing the local merchants."

"Two dragons within a week?" asked Alice with a raised brow.

"Your guess is as good as mine," said the owner with a sigh. "I don't know why any monster would bother with this town to begin with. At one time we might have had heroes worth challenging, but...well, you saw how well they stood up to that dragon woman. By the way, I noticed there was a claw mark on the door to your room this morning. You didn't have any visitors last night, did you?"

Ranma nearly choked on his food. "Ah...no, no visitors whatsoever," he assured her. "Don't know where it could have possibly come from."

"Strange. Oh well, just another bill I can send to the temple," said the owner cheerfully before picking up the dishes and wheeling the cart out of the room.

"So is shame just not a thing with monsters, or something?" asked Ranma the moment the door had closed.

"Not with me. Besides, you were the one who fell for her verbal trap," countered Alice.

Ranma winced. She was right about that, and frankly she'd handled the conversation better than he could have.

"So what is sex like in your world?" asked Alice suddenly.

"Will you stop-"

"I'm serious," said Alice pointedly. "How am I supposed to respect your cultural differences if I don't know anything about your culture?"

That brought him up short. Her question and reasoning actually sounded, well, reasonable. Unfortunately, he didn't really have a good answer for that. "Well...it's usually just one other person, and most times you're expected to wait until you're married, I guess."

"Considering your claim about a lack of monsters, I can't help but wonder if Ilias managed to wipe us out in your world and enforce her edicts unopposed. It sounds exactly like her teachings here," scoffed Alice. "Let me guess, those 'standards' have a basis in some form of religion, right?"

"That's not...untrue," said Ranma slowly. Granted, he'd never really committed to any single religion, but those rules did seem to be fairly constant across most of the major ones. "I never really thought about it before."

"You just blindly followed those standards without ever questioning why?" pressed Alice.

"No. I was engaged to two different girls, was hunted by another, and the less I say about the fourth, the better," said Ranma shortly.

"Four admirers and you never once had sex?" asked Alice with mild surprise.

"If I had, the other three would have gone berserk," mumbled Ranma. "And then there were all their rivals to consider. It was just a mess and having...that kind of relationship with any of them was a bad idea."

"Interesting," murmured Alice, looking thoughtful as she continued gazing at Ranma from across the table. "Well, if you want some advice from a monster lord, get over your shame quick. Monsters use sex as a weapon all the time, and if you're too embarrassed to fight back properly, you'll end up as prey sooner or later."

Ranma poked at his food, staying silent. Despite how absurd it sounded, Alice seemed quite serious. "I can't just turn that off, you know."

"Are you saying you need more training?"

There was no good answer to that, so instead Ranma focused on his food, making a tactical verbal retreat. Mercifully, Alice seemed to be satisfied with her victory and let him finish the meal in peace. Yet her question was going to linger for some time in the back of his mind.

* * *

"Greetings, hero! It is truly an honor to have your presence in my shop!"

Slowly, Ranma looked up from the camping gear he'd been looking over and up into the eyes of a portly, broad bellied shop owner. "It is?"

"Well of course! You were the one who drove off Granberia yesterday! And I've heard a rumor around town that you'll be helping us with our bandit problem, too."

"First I'm hearing of that," said Ranma, but the shop owner was already talking ahead of him.

"They're a savage and bloodthirsty lot I tell you. Led by a dragon and a vampire of all things. Why, just a couple of days ago I had ten whole knives go missing from my stock."

"That's...terrible?"

"And just last week, they raided farmer Stanley's apple tree and devoured over half of the fruits on it!"

"That doesn't actually sound all that bad-"

"And before that, they ambushed a wealthy merchant caravan and stole everything from it!"

"Everything?"

"Mostly some food and a few valuables, but if they hadn't turned tail and run, who knows what that group would have done to them!"

"They survived? I thought you said they were bloodthirsty."

"Well of course they are! The merchants were lucky to escape with their lives!"

Ranma's eyes narrowed suspiciously. "How many people have these bandits killed exactly?"

The shopkeeper hesitated for a moment, seeming to give the question some serious thought. "Well...no one that I know personally, but their reputation-"

"How many bandits are there?"

"Erm, well we know the dragon and the vampire exist for sure. Those are plenty threatening on their own!"

"Are they?" asked Ranma, clearly suspicious now. "What do they look like?"

"Oh, well the dragon is a fearsome monster with scales as tough as diamonds and a terrifying roar that paralyzes all but the bravest who hear it. And the vampire is a seductive beauty of the night who wears an intimidating black cloak and can drain you of your blood just like that!" For emphasis, the shopkeeper snapped his fingers.

"And they're stealing knives and apples?" reminded Ranma.

"And food!"

Ranma sighed. "I feel like you're making this out to be a bigger problem than it really is."

"You mean...you're not going to help?" The store owner looked crestfallen. "But you're a hero, aren't you?"

"Actually..." he began.

"Because a hero would get the special store discount on camping supplies. And they'd receive generous donations from the stores they come to, especially in service of the towns they're trying to protect."

The martial artist cast another glance at the pack, sleeping roll, and tent, along with a plethora of other supplies that were going to be absolutely essential for a long journey into the wilderness. "How much of a discount are you talking about?"

A few minutes later, Ranma had rejoined Alice outside of the shop, a brand new pack on his back laden with several essentials. "We're taking a detour to the Irina Mountains."

Alice gave him a flat look. "That sounds like a pointless diversion."

"It is," agreed Ranma. "But we still don't have any money and I don't like sleeping in trees."

"Your loss. It's quite comfortable," said Alice with a shrug as she fell into step beside him. "So what's in the Irina Mountains?"

"Those bandits, apparently. A dragon and a vampire."

"Like hell there are," said Alice with a snort. "If there were monsters that powerful on this continent, I would have known about them ages ago."

"What, is there no such thing as a weak dragon or vampire?"

"Sheer force of genetics make that almost an impossibility. They don't always get to the level of Granberia, but one would have to seriously try to end up a weakling."

"I dunno, something isn't adding up here," said Ranma, pausing in front of a very distinctly marked weapon store before adjusting course and going inside.

"Ah, the hero of Iliasburg! Welcome to my humble weapon shop! How can I-"

"The bandits," interrupted Ranma. "What can you tell me about them?"

"Haha! Already seeking out your next heroic feat I see! Well, they're a vicious lot for sure. Just a couple of weeks ago, they stole two whole barrels full of fresh vegetables and dried meat! They even have a dragon and a vampire among their ranks."

"That's it? Two barrels of food?" asked Alice with a slight tilt of her head.

"Well...they were really heavy barrels," said the owner sheepishly. "If you're going after them, perhaps I can give you some weapons or armor. How about this spiked codpiece? Any monster would think twice about-"

Ranma didn't let him finish before he closed the door and continued to the town gate. "The shop owners seem pretty certain of the dragon and vampire."

"It could just be a monster pretending," said Alice. "A little bit of illusion magic or a fancy disguise. Humans tend to be pretty clueless when it comes to monsters."

"I for one wouldn't mind investigating the rumors," said a new voice, nearly causing Ranma to jump. Making an effort not to whip his head around toward the voice, he spied Granberia from the corner of his eye, walking along behind him as though she'd been doing so all along. "News of another dragon this far south intrigues me."

"How long were you listening in?" asked Ranma once he was calm.

"I keep an eye on my lord at all times," reminded Granberia. "It's not difficult to hide one's presence among untrained humans. After last night it became clear to me-"

"So what about the vampire? Any interest in fighting her?" cut in Ranma.

"Mildly. Vampires tend to rely on charm, trickery, and magic above fighting prowess. Less a challenge of skill than it is avoiding their tricks and finding an opening to exploit," she explained. "Most don't even like to dirty their hands. Still, it's a bit strange. Dragons and vampires don't really have a history of working together."

"Why not? Their styles seem complimentary," observed Ranma. "One fighting directly, one using tricks."

"Does she look like the type who would use tricks?" asked Alice. "Or be satisfied by a fight that ended with trickery?"

"No, probably not," agreed Ranma.

"Speaking of tricks, Ranma can change into a girl."

Granberia paused mid step. "He...what?"

"Alice, why-"

"Did you want to wait for it to happen on accident and cause a misunderstanding? As amusing as that would be, we're already wasting enough time with this pointless side quest." Snapping her fingers, Alice formed an ice crystal in one of her hands and in the other, a spout of flame appeared. Briefly, the two combined, and with a flick of her wrist, the water splashed over him.

Granberia watched it happen, her eyes widening slightly as she saw the transformation happen within the blink of an eye. Ranma was already ready with the answers to her questions. "Yes, it's a full transformation. No, nothing about me changes mentally. Cold water changes me to this, warm water changes me back."

"Fascinating. That's not usually an ability a human can achieve, and yet I can sense no magic from you whatsoever, even while the change is happening," said Granberia thoughtfully.

"Doesn't even feel all that unique anymore, considering what else I've seen here," said Ranma, shaking the water from her hair before gesturing towards Alice.

"If you had even an ounce of dark magic within your body, it would be easy to teach you a basic level transformation spell like my own," said Alice as she conjured another ice crystal above her fingers. This time, she brought the sphere of water to a boil with her flame before tossing it in the redhead's direction. "But you're entirely human in both forms."

"Yeah, it's real tough, but I'll survive somehow," said Ranma with a roll of his eyes, reaching down to take off his shirt and squeeze out the water, only to find that it wasn't nearly as soaked as he thought it would be. "Huh...well that's neat."

"Enrikan clothing," said Granberia. "Light, durable, perfect for those that need to stay nimble during combat. A good choice for a monk like yourself. I'm curious, which form do you prefer to fight in?"

That briefly caught Ranma off guard. Usually the follow up question he got asked after the curse was demonstrated was about his sexual orientation. "Male. Don't move quite as fast and my energy manipulation is a little worse, but it's hard to beat the better reach and strength. I've only had the other body for about four years."

"So how did you get that body in the first place?" asked Alice.

"It's a long story, and not all that interesting."

"We've got a ways to walk," she replied. "The least you could do is entertain us."

"Fine, whatever. It was all thanks to this stupid mystical training ground in a remote, backwater region of China called Jusenkyo."

* * *

"Oh, so that's how it is," said Alice suddenly, bringing the small group to a halt. "This really was a waste of time."

"You've been saying that for the past two hours," reminded Ranma. "What exactly is different about this time?"

"You'll see soon enough," said Alice cryptically, settling on her coils and letting out a sigh. "I'll watch your things. Try not to go too hard on them. Stupid paranoid humans."

Shrugging off his pack, Ranma turned a curious glance towards Granberia who had taken a similarly relaxed pose against one of the trees. "Didn't you want to see the dragon?"

"If Lord Alipheese prefers not to involve herself in this, I will abide by her decision," she responded.

"You can go if you want. Nothing on this continent is even remotely threatening to me, least of all those bandits. You might scare them off if they see you though."

Granberia briefly seemed to share in Ranma's confusion, but comprehension dawned a moment later. "I see. Wouldn't it be best to act in your capacity as Monster Lord to ensure their safety?"

"Maybe. But I have a feeling they'll listen to a cute male more readily."

"Is there some reason you're hiding information from me?" asked Ranma irritably.

"Yes," replied Alice simply.

A few seconds passed before Ranma realized she wasn't going to say anything more. "Whatever. I'll be back."

The trees broke and the mountain range that had only been slightly visible before came into full view, stretching quite a distance in either direction like a wall bordering the ocean. For a moment, Ranma wondered just how easy this bandit cave was going to be to find. Clearly Alice had caught their scent or auras within the vicinity so it couldn't have been that far away, but there was still quite a bit of mountain to cover.

"Unless they're holing up in this incredibly obvious cave," he murmured. Worth a look, but they'd probably be a bit smarter than to pick a hideout that was barely off of the beaten path. Taking a single step forward, Ranma paused, his eyes moving toward a rather large rock that looked like it had tumbled down from the crags above. "You can come out now, I know you're there."

"What? How? I was perfectly hidden!"

"Your foot was sticking out and I heard you move when I got close," lied Ranma, deciding that was easier than explaining about energy signatures and auras.

"Grr...you could have at least pretended to be surprised and let me ambush you!" came the reply as the monstrous bandit walked out from behind the rock.

The 'bandit' was not a vampire or a dragon. In fact, despite the horn on her head and the strange markings on her face, the 'monster' didn't look like anything more than a young girl. Only coming as high as his chest, the bandit looked the part, wearing heavy gloves, a horned helmet, and leather armor just a shade lighter than her dark skin. Still, she was undeniably a cute girl.

Suddenly, Alice's annoyance made a lot more sense. "Wait, don't tell me you're-"

"I am Gob, the Bandit of Earth!" she introduced, her bright blue eyes gleaming with pride. "All trespassers will be made into our slaves!"

"You can't be...I thought you were led by a dragon and a vampire."

"Oh we have a dragon and a vampire, too," said the self-proclaimed Bandit of Earth. "But I was on lookout duty today, so you get to fight me first!"

Stepping back behind the rock, the monster girl withdrew her weapon and Ranma's look fell a little bit. The hammer matched her height and then some, with a heavy stone base that looked roughly carved and bound together to the pole. The fact that she was handling it with relative ease was a stark reminder than he couldn't judge a girl like her based on the standards of his own world.

"Take this! Super Earth Bandit Attack: Sandstorm!"

Ranma tensed, only for all the tension to leave his body as the girl reached down and flung a handful of dirt at him. Not even bothering to dodge, Ranma let the clod hit him square in the chest were it promptly crumbled.

Seemingly undeterred by her failed attack, the goblin girl took a two handed grip on her hammer and hefted it up above her head. "Super Earth Bandit Attack: Whirwind!" Widening her stance, the hammer swept out in a wide circle, spinning around rapidly until it looked like the hammer was pulling her instead of the other way around.

Slowly...slowly...incredibly slowly, the girl inched closer to him. It would have been easy to simply take a step to the side, or even several. Instead, Ranma waited for the right moment before bringing his hand up and catching the handle just below the head, rather abruptly stopping the goblin's fierce attack.

Dizzy and wobbling slightly, the monster shook her head, reorienting herself before finally seeing what had stopped her technique. "You stopped it! That was my best technique, too!"

"Were you just expecting me to stand there and take it?" asked Ranma. "A blind person could have avoided that."

"Sniff...you don't have to be so mean about it..." Uh oh. Tears were starting to well up in her eyes now, her grip on the hammer going slack as she let Ranma take almost all of the weight.

"H-hey, I didn't mean it like that," said Ranma quickly, setting the hammer down carefully and holding his hands up defensively. "Your plenty strong, but your technique just needs work, that's all!"

Eyes watering, Gob looked up at him. "You...you mean it?"

 _What the hell am I doing? She just tried to attack me!_

Ignoring his internal thoughts, Ranma kicked the handle of the hammer into his hand and hefted it up. Taking a look at the goblin girl's size, the martial artist gave the handle a swift chop and neatly severed the wood at just the right height. Turning the weapon around, he briefly examined the head before undoing the bindings and tying them up properly.

Curious, Gob watched him work, her tears fading as he shortened and tightened the crude weapon into something more fitting for her size. "The trick with a weapon like this is to not let the hammer carry you. It's a balance between using the momentum you gain from the weight and using your own strength."

Finished with his task, Ranma flipped the hammer around and examined the repaired weapon. "And if you're going to be using 'earth' attacks, you can't be wasting time letting go of your weapon, either."

"But...I don't know any real earth attacks," admitted Gob sheepishly. "I just took the title because I was the strongest of us four."

"How about this one then?" said Ranma, giving her a smirk before rising to his feet and taking a stance, letting the head of the hammer linger behind him. "Super Earth Bandit Attack: Sandstorm!" With a strong underhanded swing, Ranma struck the ground with the head of the hammer, scooping up and then throwing a cloud of dirt up into the air.

"And then the follow up...Shockwave!" Turning his body and using the momentum of his earlier swing, Ranma brought the hammer up and over his shoulder as he twisted before bringing it down hard on the ground, cracks appearing in the earth as a small rumble shook the surrounding area.

The goblin girl's face looked positively delighted, her tears all but forgotten. "Woooow! How did you do that? Come on, show me again!"

"I'll do you one better. I'll teach you how to do it," offered Ranma. "But only if you tell me about your fellow bandits."

* * *

Resisting the urge to look as he felt a new presence approaching, Ranma kept his attention on the goblin girl in front of him. In just the space of an hour, her stance and balance had improved significantly, and the smaller hammer was doing wonders for her. "Remember, you just want to skim the earth a bit and angle it just right so it goes into your opponent's face," he reminded her. "And keep the attack name short, too."

Nodding resolutely, Gob tightened her grip and swung. "Goblin Sandstorm!" she cried out, skimming the earth just right to kick up a dust cloud. "Goblin Shockwave!" Her follow-up wasn't quite as potent, but the tremor through the ground was noticeable. Maybe even enough to knock over an unbalanced opponent.

The pride on Gob's face was adorable. "That was it! I did it! I felt the ground tremble!"

"Yep. You keep at it and you'll be knocking down people twice your size," encouraged Ranma, impulsively reaching forward and giving Gob's helmet a pat. "Just keep on doing those exercises I showed you and remember what I said about your weapon size and weight."

"Teach me something else!" she said suddenly. "You're one of those martial arts masters that knows all kinds of techniques, right?"

"Well, I suppose I could..." he began.

"Hey, no fair! I want to learn a cool technique too!" came a sudden shout from behind the same rock Gob had been hiding behind. Just like before, a fearsome 'bandit' appeared, though this one's monster origins were far more obvious from the green and silver tail coiled up beneath her. A young lamia girl, though unlike the goblin, her only 'protection' was two thin strips of cloth covering her chest and a loincloth around the area where her snake and human halves met.

 _Then again, it's not as though Alice needed much protection either..._

"You must be Teeny, the Bandit of Water," said Ranma, winking at Gob before turning his attention to her. "So what's your special talent?"

For a moment, the tiny lamia looked shocked before turning an angry glare to Gob. "You talked, didn't you?"

"He defeated me, I had no choice," said Gob defensively. "And he taught me a new technique!"

"Grr...you traitor! I'll deal with you right after I finish dealing with him! Supreme Water Bandit Ultimate Coiling Technique!"

Nonplussed, Ranma stood there as the tiny lamia charged him, making a trail in the dirt as she slithered at him and then lunged, wrapping her tail around his legs and her arms around his waist. "Ha! Now you're helpless!"

With deliberate care and slowness, Ranma reached his hands down and gently grabbed her hips before pulling her up into the air, her small tail dangling just on the ground as he held her. "I don't think you're old enough to pull that off yet."

"Gooob! Help! He defeated my ultimate technique!"

"Just because you give it a long name doesn't make it 'ultimate' you know," grumbled Ranma as he set her down. Just like the goblin girl, it seemed like her eyes were starting to water. Kami damn his weakness to crying girls. "Okay look, how about I show you how to actually use that tail?"

The waterworks immediately stopped. "Huh? But you're a human. What would you know about fighting with a tail?"

"More than you'd think," murmured Ranma, briefly thinking back to the way Alice had moved last night at the Sutherland Inn. "Alright, first let's focus on your movement..."

* * *

Monsters were fast learners. That was really the only thing Ranma could think as he watched Gob and Teeny square off with one another, the former having set her hammer aside for a more light-contact sparring session with her bandit friend.

A far cry from the straightforward charging Teeny had done before, she was now utilizing her coils to be far more elusive, weaving and dodging around Gob's strikes. Gob herself had improved a lot too, her stance more firm, her punches carrying more strength, and her speed having been optimized for her smaller form and figure.

At the moment, the two seemed evenly matched, though without her weapon, Teeny did seem to have the edge over Gob with the extra reach her tail afforded her, the goblin having to be careful not to be tripped. Even if her tail wasn't good for coiling like Alice, there was plenty of potential for it to be a nuisance in a fight.

"Hey, no fair! You went playing without us!"

"Yeah, how long were you going to keep us waiting in there?"

Turning his gaze back towards the hiding rock, Ranma watched as the final two members of the Four Bandits made their appearance. Vanilla the Wind Bandit and Papi the Fire Bandit.

"They really are all just little girls," murmured Ranma to himself, finally confirming the source of Alice's annoyance. It was obvious which one was which. Vanilla was sporting a small black cape and cute bat wings from beneath her long golden hair...and absolutely nothing else save for a white pair of panties. Papi the young dragon seemed a bit more decently dressed, but only because she had tough looking scales on her arms and legs, much like Granberia, though unlike her, she seemed to have a pair of developing wings, too.

"Well I was saving the real training for when all four of you finally showed up," said Ranma, a bit more loudly. "So what can you two do?"

"I can make any man a slave if they look into my eyes!" boasted Vanilla, stepping forward and staring Ranma directly in the eye. "Just...give me a second. And don't look away!"

A day ago, the light headed feeling and the flash of euphoria would have taken him off guard, but Vanilla was nowhere near Alice's level, and it didn't take much to break her control before it could fully take hold. "Well, you're learning. Keep at it," said Ranma encouragingly, ignoring her surprised look as he turned to the last of the group. "And you?"

Papi grinned and took in a breath before exhaling, a small stream of fire. "I live up to my title of 'Fire Bandit'!" she said proudly.

"Hey, I only took water bandit because there weren't any titles left!" said Teeny, only to yelp as Gob took the opening to tackle her to the ground. Her advantage was short lived, however, as Gob was tiny enough for the lamia to actually get a couple of coils around and start squeezing.

Something Granberia said surfaced in Ranma's mind. "Wait...Bandit of Fire like...the Swordsman of Fire?"

As one, the four girls suddenly looked rather sheepish. Vanilla was the first to speak up. "We...might have formed our group after the four Heavenly Knights."

"Well...what if I told you that I've fought with Granberia and I've seen her techniques?" said Ranma. "She almost ran me through with her Thunder Thrust and incinerated my half my clothing with her Vaporizing Rebellion Sword."

"No way! You should be dead in that case!" accused Papi with a huff. "No one has taken that technique and lived!"

"Well I might have died, but I turned the technique against her," said Ranma cheekily. "But I can't teach you that. I can teach you something else pretty cool though."

Hook, line, and sinker. All four of them were brimming with curiosity now, wearing that same eager expression Ranma had when a tantalizing technique was being dangled in front of him. Turning to the rock all of the bandits had hidden behind before, Ranma made a show of bringing his hands together as he formed ki on his palms, smiling a bit as he heard the four simultaneous gasps of awe.

"Moko Takabisha!"

The bright blue ball of energy streaked through the air and struck the rock, shattering the stone and sending fragments flying everywhere. Taking a moment to dust off his hands, Ranma turned back to the four bandits, only just managing to hold back his smile as he saw their eager looks.

"That's a technique I used against Granberia. Anyone can learn it if they want to put the effort in. Although if you just want to keep being bandits..."

"No way! Teach us!"

"I wanna shoot energy balls too!"

"Me! I wanna learn!"

* * *

Any thoughts about how Gob or Teeny might have been a fluke slowly died away as Ranma watched the rapid improvement of the young monster girls. While it wasn't a phenomenal gain, the fact that they were using their abilities more intelligently within the space of a couple hours was impressive. Even going for two hours through various workouts, routines, and small sparring sessions was a feat, though he did have to occasionally keep their attention from wandering by showing off more of his martial arts.

"Alright, that's enough for now. Take a break," said Ranma, looking towards the sky as the four girls let out sighs of relief and collapsed on the ground. A single thought was on his mind. What now? The fierce bandit threat had been nothing more than children, yet the Iliasburg town was terrified of them. And there was the small problem of Granberia having recently tried to take over the town and putting everyone on edge. And yet, just leaving them to their devices didn't seem like the right thing to do either, even if it did seem like they were doing just fine on their own.

"Oi, I'm going into the woods for a bit. I'll be right back," said Ranma. "Take another five and get something to eat if you have it."

A chorus of 'okays' was his response, and a moment later Ranma was slipping through the trees, waiting until he was out of sight before looking up and speaking aloud. "So what now?"

Without even a rustle of the underbrush or a hint to her presence, Alice was there beside him. "It's an odd situation, I'll give you that. Orphaned vampires and dragons aren't common, considering just how tough they are to kill."

"There's nothing wrong with leaving them on their own," came Granberia's voice a moment later. "They're resourceful enough to gather food, and among the monsters on this continent, the dragon and the vampire together would be a match for just about any predator."

"And if they keep stealing from the town? How long until the 'bandit' problem gets serious enough for a bunch of panicked soldiers from Iliasburg to come clean them out?" asked Ranma.

"Hmph. It's not as though the guards there were anything special."

Letting out a sigh, Ranma turned back to Alice. "You're a monster lord, aren't you? Isn't this the sort of thing you should be taking care of?"

Alice contemplated the question. "There are places dedicated to taking in orphaned monsters, but none in this region. Trying to get them off of this continent presents its own challenges as well."

"Can't you just order them not to bother the humans?"

"They're children. Do you think they'd listen to me? Or anyone for that matter?" retorted Alice.

"Maybe..." said Ranma, turning his eyes towards Granberia. "They seem to idolize you."

For a moment, Granberia actually looked flustered. "Me? What could I possibly say to them?"

"I dunno...encourage them to train and get better so they can avoid the guards?" asked Ranma, a bit of frustration creeping in to his voice.

"So you want me to encourage them to become powerful enough to further bully the town?"

"That's not...what I meant," said Ranma, trailing off slightly.

Alice let out a small sigh. "There's a queen I know on this continent. I don't know her personally, but she might be willing to take them in to her village. It's not something I can order her to do though...or rather, it would be wiser for me not to order such a thing."

Ranma let that sink in for a bit. He could tell from the sound of Alice's voice that she wasn't hopeful about the idea, or terribly enthusiastic about it either.

"I'm taking them to Iliasburg," he said finally.

"What?"

"Are you out of your mind?"

Ranma continued despite the protests. "I'll get them to round up all the stuff they stole and return it to Iliasburg. Didn't seem like much in the first place so there probably ain't a whole lot."

"And what are you going to do when the town lynch mob comes after them?" asked Alice pointedly.

"Then I'll beat them down myself and let Granberia take the damn place," said Ranma resolutely, storming back into the forest and ignoring their surprised looks. Any town that would be willing to kill or imprison children frankly deserved to be leveled.

The walk back did give him some time to cool off, thankfully, though when he came back into the clearing, he could immediately tell something was off. Gob was the only bandit that remained, a remarkably innocent look on her face as she held her hammer at her side.

"Where are your friends?" asked Ranma casually.

"On a walk," said Gob innocently. "They needed to get something from the hideout."

"Uh huh. Well, I have something important to tell them, so I think we should go find them," said Ranma, stepping past her and heading towards the cave.

 _Any second now..._

"Goblin Shockwave!"

The ripple along the ground was quite powerful, and if he hadn't been expecting it, Ranma would have definitely toppled over. Still, he was more interested in seeing the ambush they had set up and let himself take the fall.

"Bandit ambush go!" Slithering along the ground at a rapid rate, Teeny sprung from her hiding spot and quickly coiled around his outstretched arm, pulling it tight, right as her vampire friend latched onto his other arm and bit down with her fangs, a slight feeling of numbness entering the limb in question. The final portion of the ambush came a moment later as Papi leaped out from behind the rubble, her wings carrying her through the air for a bit before she landed hard against Ranma's stomach.

"Ha, got you!" declared Papi proudly, her tail flicking behind her in excitement while her clawed hands pressed down against his shirt.

"That means you're ours now! And you'll have to stay and keep training us!" added Teeny as she squeezed her tail further around his arm.

"And we'll get to use you as our plaything whenever we want!" concluded Vanilla as she released his slightly numb arm. "Oh wow...that tastes really good," she murmured a bit more quietly.

Carefully ignoring that last bit, Ranma grinned up at Papi. "Very clever, but there's one thing you forgot. I'm a lot stronger than all of you!" With a small grunt of effort, Ranma lifted Teeny and Vanilla upward.

"Ahh! He's escaping!"

"Gob, help us!"

"Keep his arm bound!"

Despite the ambush having been a 'success', it was clear the bandits hadn't thought much beyond it, the four of them scrambling to hold onto him as he inevitably made his way back to his feet, holding Teeny and Vanilla in the air by his arms while Papi and Gob clung to his neck.

"Looks like it's my victory now," said Ranma as he began to walk with the four of them attached. "And that means you have to do something for me."

Four pairs of eyes looked at him cautiously. Papi was the one who spoke for all of them. "What's that?"

* * *

The shopkeeper jumped in his chair as a loud thump was heard outside his store. A second later a knock sounded on his door. Cautiously, the provisioner opened it to see the hero of Iliasburg standing behind four small girls.

"Three stolen food barrels...mostly full," said Ranma, gesturing towards them. "And these four have something to say to you."

"We're sorry," said the dragon.

"We're really sorry," echoed the lamia.

"We were just playing bandits," insisted the vampire.

"We're really really sorry," finished the goblin.

The shopkeeper's confusion was plain. "Wait...you mean to tell me that _you four_ were the bandits?"

Mutely, the monster girls nodded.

"Oh for crying out loud, you should have heard that damn merchant going on and on about the fearsome dragon," said the store owner with an exasperated sigh. "Look, it's alright, but don't do it again, ya hear? The four of you should take up an honest profession."

"They've already invited me to work at the warehouse," said Gob excitedly.

"And I'm a maid at the Sutherland Inn!" added Teeny.

"And the blacksmith said that I can do some amazing things with my dragon fire!"

"And what about you, young lady?" asked the store owner after a few moments of silence from the vampire. "Have you ever wanted to learn how to run a store like this?"

Excitedly, Vanilla nodded.

"Well I think I have room for an employee here. But only if you promise to work hard."

"Yaaay! Thank you!" Rushing up to the store keeper, Vanilla hugged his legs tightly. "I promise I'll work really hard and become the best merchant ever!"

Subconsciously, Ranma let go of the tension he'd been feeling in the back of his mind. With how Granberia and Alice had talked about the idea, he'd been expecting an angry mob at any second, but the results of their apology tour had been anything but. Far from being an angry mob, the townspeople had laughed off the entire thing upon seeing who the 'fearsome bandits' had actually been, even going above and beyond to offer the young girls shelter and employment as they'd brought back the goods they had stolen...or rather, acquired when the overly imaginative merchants ran screaming from Papi's roars.

"Well, that's the last of them," said Ranma as the four ex-bandits helped the shopkeeper move the barrels inside. "And no angry mob in sight."

Beside him, Alice looked on with a curious look. "I'll admit, I'm a little surprised. After Granberia came through here, I assumed they would have been even more hostile to monsters."

"They're little girls, Alice," retorted Ranma. "You'd have to be a mon...a really terrible person to stay angry at them."

"Don't think for a second they wouldn't have taken advantage of you if they got the chance," said Alice bluntly. "They're still monsters."

"Alice, they're like...twelve or something. How could they possibly-"

Ranma paused as he felt a gentle tug on his sleeve. Looking down, he saw Vanilla holding a large red gem with a nervous look on her face. "Um...we didn't find the merchant who dropped this in the city, so maybe you should take it with you in case you find him?" she offered.

"Oh, sure. That sounds like a good idea," said Ranma, taking the bright red orb and pocketing it. "If I'm ever in the area again, I'll be sure to give you four more lessons, but keep training with what I showed you, alright?"

Smiling, Vanilla nodded. "Well, actually...we could still use your help. You know...getting all of our stuff into our new hideout, moving the big heavy things around...wouldn't take too long."

"Well if you need help-" he began, only to freeze up as he saw Alice's look from the corner of his eye. Only then did he notice Vanilla's nervousness. "Actually, we're kind of on a tight schedule. But Gob should be more than enough help, right?"

"Aww...okay then. But next time for sure!" insisted Vanilla.

"Next time," agreed Ranma with a nervous smile, holding it right until Vanilla vanished out of sight with her friends. "Were they really about to-"

"Yes," said Alice flatly.

"But they're like-"

"Old enough for monsters."

"But they-"

"You were the one who enticed them with your martial arts and sweet words. What did you think was going to happen?"

"I only-"

"You really only have yourself to blame. Maybe you should learn a bit more about monsters before you go charming every single one you meet."

"Will you-"

"Stop finishing your thoughts before they have time to form? No. We're in a hurry, remember? Now go collect your reward for defeating the big scary bandits, hero boy. Granberia is waiting for us."

Flustered, speechless, and unable to bring up a single retort, Ranma decided that a tactical retreat was in order and quickly disappeared inside the shop to do just that.


	4. Chapter 4: Fancy Flights

"I want to spar."

Ranma opened an eye and looked up at the dragon woman who had pulled his tent flap aside and now loomed over him, fully armed and armored. Slowly, that eye moved to the blade at her side.

"Live steel ain't exactly a sparring thing," he pointed out, fighting back a yawn as he rose up in his tent. Just as early as his morning sparring sessions with his old man. At least she nudged him awake instead of throwing him out a window.

"I can control myself," said Granberia.

Ranma thought on that for a moment. "I believe you," he said, grabbing his shirt and quickly dressing before joining the dragoness. They walked together some distance away from the sleeping lamia coiled around one of the tree branches. "Alice not the morning training type?"

"Used to be. Once she became the Monster Lord, her duties turned more towards politics than fighting. Doesn't make her any less of an opponent though."

"You fought her?" asked Ranma curiously as he went through a few warm-up stretches, idly thinking about how to approach the upcoming spar.

"Once, about two years ago now. There was a big fight between powerful monsters for the title. I was a part of that." The ring of steel sounded as Granberia unsheathed her sword, looking the blade over before taking a few practice swings.

Ranma stared at her in mid-stretch. "Do you dabble in politics on the side of being a swordswoman or something?"

"I wasn't actually trying to become the Monster Lord," retorted Granberia with a huff. "It was just the only opportunity I had to fight someone from the Fateburn family."

"Why not just ask her to spar?"

"Would you ask a human king to fight you if you were one of their knights?"

"Yeah, I guess that would be a little awkward," admitted Ranma, standing up and giving his neck a roll. "How did it turn out?"

"She won. What about yours?"

"She probably would have won if it had gone on longer."

The two of them stared at one another, pausing in their warmups. Ranma was the first to break the silence. "That bad, huh?"

"I was woefully unprepared at the time. I've learned, since then. You?"

"Couldn't even make her flinch. Still learning."

The faintest hint of a smile appeared on Granberia's face. "Then I suppose this will be good for both of us."

Despite her claims about desiring a sparring session, it quickly became clear that the dragon didn't do anything halfway. While she didn't ignite her sword or use any of her special techniques, she was still incredibly quick and had a masterful grasp of swordplay. True to her word, she had more than enough control to pull her blade back from giving him any wound more serious than a nick to clothing or skin.

For his part, Ranma kept his ki use to a minimum. He didn't manifest any visible energy attacks and stayed ahead of her blade for most of the session using light blows rather than debilitating ones. More often than not, Ranma found himself on the defensive, and was forced to give her sword a healthy amount of space. Granberia seemed wise to his techniques now, and in the corner of his mind, he couldn't help but wonder how a full-on rematch would go.

"I hope one of you remembered to make food in between hitting each other."

The voice of the Monster Lord caused both of them to pause in mid-attack. Slowly, Granberia sheathed her blade. "Lord Alice-"

"If you're going to pretend to be seeing to my needs while stalking your husband-in-training, the least you could do is fix breakfast," said Alice pointedly. "Or did you need another hour to hit on each other some more?"

Flustered, Granberia looked between Alice and Ranma.

Ranma jumped on the excuse. "I'll fix something right now," he said, avoiding looking anywhere near Granberia as he pushed through the trees and back to the campsite.

Fortunately, it didn't take long to push the embers into a fire, and thanks to the completion of his 'quest' to defeat the fearsome bandit gang, he had plenty of rations to make into a decent meal. It was almost an echo of his first training journey to China, though he wasn't sure his current traveling companions were an upgrade to his deadbeat father. Sparring with someone who trained seriously was a nice change of pace, yet considering what the two of them had done at the Sutherland Inn...

"Are you finished yet?"

Alice's voice shook him out of his thoughts. "No, and it's not going to cook any faster if you pester me," he added.

With a huff, Alice coiled up near the fire and waited, watching Ranma at work. "You're asking for trouble, flirting with her like that."

Ranma's hand slipped and nearly went into the fire. "That was sparring!"

"It's the same thing for dragons. Especially one like her who is constantly searching for an opponent who can test her abilities. I have a feeling that if she weren't traveling with us right now, she'd be stalking you constantly, looking for opportunities to ambush you."

"You can't expect me to believe that I'm the worthiest opponent she can find when there are monsters like you around," Ranma protested.

"Oh, there are plenty of monsters stronger than you," agreed Alice while ignoring the glare that earned her. "But add in 'dedicated to fighting', 'willing to spar', and 'unattached male' then that list shrinks down to near nothing."

Unable to think of a good response, Ranma simply turned his attention back to the frying pan and flipped the omelet over one last time before adding a touch of seasoning and sliding it onto a plate. "Don't eat it all at once," he grumbled. "Hey Granberia, breakfast is ready!"

"A human that can cook is another nice bonus," said Alice cheekily. "At this point, all you'd need to do is show her a few more techniques-"

"Hey Granberia, do you know anything about Happiness Village?" asked Ranma as the swordsman appeared from the tree-line, cutting Alice off.

"Small and inconsequential," replied Granberia as she took her meal and dug into it. "I didn't bother to look into it since it provided no tactical value and the monster queen in the area is reclusive rather than active. Hmm...this is rather good."

"Not my first trip into the wilderness. You either learn how to cook, or you suffer," replied Ranma with a shrug. "How does a monster queen even set up here?"

"By being far out of the way of the major travel routes," replied Alice. "Much like Happiness Village itself. I doubt anyone except the innkeeper is even aware of their problems right now."

"But what is the problem exactly?" asked Ranma.

"I don't know," said Alice simply. "I could theorize, but it's better to simply see the situation for myself."

"And what if it's the fault of the monster queen living there?"

"Then things get complicated," said Alice sourly.

* * *

Ranma stared.

He really shouldn't have been surprised by the monsters in this world given what he'd already seen, but the creature he was looking at now was just...bizarre. Her legs were a segmented chitin which extended all the way to her mid-chest, where the hard shell turned into soft looking skin and a pair of human-like breasts. Delicate wings spread from her back and two claw-feelers jutted out from her shoulders.

Far and away the strangest thing about her though, was the giant honeycomb that hung off her back like a pack.

"You know, I didn't think to ask...but are these the 'bees' they're using to make Happiness Honey?" Ranma asked, throwing a glance over to Alice beside him.

"On this continent? I doubt it," she replied. "The substance they produce would be more of an aphrodisiac if anything. Are you going to fight her?"

"I...wasn't planning on it," said Ranma carefully.

"She's likely out here hoping to ambush travelers and feed on them. Isn't that the kind of thing a hero should be worried about?" asked Alice.

"I'm really more of a tourist without a passport," reasoned Ranma.

Alice cocked her head. "Without a what?"

"Never mind," said Ranma with a sigh, walking out from his hiding place and approaching the bee girl, very careful not to let his eyes move from her face. "Hey there."

The girl's body jerked in surprise, her wings flaring outward as she quickly turned around, showing that she had more than enough strength to carry that odd honeycomb on her back despite how awkward it looked. "Oh! A human! You startled me."

"Yeah, sorry about that. Hey, you weren't waiting along this road hoping for some travelers to come by so you could ambush them, were you?"

"Me? Oh no, I'm a bit too old for that these days," said the bee-girl with a wistful sigh. "Maybe if I were a few years younger...but nowadays I only indulge myself in the flowers around here." Opening her mouth, the bee-girl let a long, pink appendage slither out and twist like a snake through the air towards one of the flower buds at her feet. The tip swirled around the flower repeatedly before it pulled back and brought with it a golden-colored nectar.

It took Ranma a couple moments to find his voice. "Ah...well good luck with that then."

"Thank you. Please be safe on your travels." With one more smile, the bee girl took off into the air, flying just above the tree-tops before vanishing from view.

"Well...she was friendly enough," Ranma said after a moment of watching the sky.

"That's not going to work on every monster," noted Granberia as she emerged from hiding.

"You weren't exactly in the mood for talking the first time," retorted Ranma.

"I didn't need words to know you were eager for a fight as well."

Silently, Ranma conceded the point, though he didn't say anything aloud.

"Traveling with you two is going to be exhausting," said Alice, from right beside him. He restrained the urge to leap back on reflex. "I imagine you'll be fighting the harpy queen before the day is finished."

"I don't go looking for fights ya know," grumbled Ranma. "Most times they just find me."

"They're back! Get inside! Run!"

"Attack! The village is under attack!"

Ranma's head jerked towards the noise. In the next second, he was gone, sprinting towards the village. On the wind, he could hear the faintest hint of conversation behind him.

"How about it, Granberia? Wager your next meal that they'll fight?"

"No bet."

Ranma focused as the village came into view. His eyes darted left and right, looking at the fleeing villagers. Women...more women...and a single child fending off a winged monster which had its talons in his shirt and had taken flight.

"Claws off!" His shout had the desired effect. The girl turned in surprise just in time for Ranma's kick to land hard on her side. Her wings flapped wildly and her talons released the boy, but she didn't have a chance to recover before his second kick struck her back and sent her spinning to the ground. It took even less time for Ranma to take a seat on her back, crossing his legs over her waist as he stared down at her.

"Owww! Hey, lemme up! No fair, I wasn't even ready!" Unfortunately for the winged girl, lacking arms made Ranma's position quite easy to maintain, her feathers unable to get any real purchase against the ground.

"You were trying to kidnap a kid! What part of that was 'fair'?" demanded Ranma.

"I wasn't kidnapping him! I was trying to bring him back to my village so I could mate with him!"

The boy spoke up. "Erm...what's mate mean?"

"Beat it, kid!" snapped Ranma.

"Eep! Sorry!"

Letting out a sigh as the kid turned tail and ran, Ranma returned his attention to the girl he was sitting on. "Why a kid? Is this another one of those monster things? Or are you like...a fully grown teenage monster?"

"Hey! I'm an adult by harpy standards!"

"Well, _you_ are, but he ain't, and that just makes you look worse!"

"Nnhh...alright fine, he was the only male in this village I could find! All the others were snatched up already!"

Ranma blinked. "All of them? Like...every male here?" Come to think of it, he hadn't seen any fleeing males, and no one had shown up to help the young boy either.

"That's what I said, didn't I? Although..." Her squirming stopped as she turned to get a good look at her captor. "I'd much rather have a man like you. Are you on the market?"

Reaching a hand forward, Ranma noogied her headtop. "Focus, I'm asking the questions here."

"Ow ow ow! Okay okay, I'll be good!"

"The queen. Did she order you to do this?"

"Um...well she did encourage us to seek out mates of our own and didn't really say that the village was off limits- ow ow ow! Okay, yes, she said we could!"

Removing his knuckles from her head, Ranma slowly got to his feet, letting the harpy free. "Well, there aren't any left. So get lost."

The harpy blinked, clearly surprised by the show of mercy. "You're letting me go?"

"That a problem or something?"

Her wings shook and dislodged the dirt that had accumulated while she got to her feet. "No, it's just...the queen said that adventurers like you would cut us to pieces, tear us to shreds and-"

Ranma cut her off before she could go into more vivid detail. "I'm a martial artist, not an adventurer."

"Ohh...so what does that mean?" the harpy asked with a very avian-like tip of the head.

"It means I'm giving you one chance to fly away before I change my mind!" snapped Ranma.

With a yelp of surprise, the harpy took flight, startling like a sparrow and hurrying off.

"So this is you 'not' looking for fights?"

"Shut up," grumbled Ranma, not even turning to look at the disguised Alice.

"Bit of a sad display. Running from a single young harpy and not even trying to defend a child. Do you think he's an orphan, or are his caretakers just that cowardly?"

"I'm still inclined to blame the ones doing the kidnapping," countered Ranma, finally spotting some of the villagers as they emerged from their homes.

"Did you see him?"

"He took out that harpy with one blow!"

"The Goddess has finally answered our prayers!"

Someone from the crowd approached, an elderly woman who walked with a gnarled stick. "Brave adventur...er...martial artist, thank you for driving away that monster. Might I have your name?"

"Ranma Saotome. I came here 'cause the Sutherland Inn owner asked me to check up on ya."

The woman let out a sigh. "It's truly a dire situation. For the past several months, our village has been raided numerous times by that vicious harpy tribe. At first it was just the men, but it wasn't long before they were kidnapping the elderly, and now the young boys. Even my own husband wasn't spared."

"Was it really a kidnapping?" asked Alice with a raise of her eyebrow. "Given the way you abandoned that boy, it seemed more like a sacrifice."

An uncomfortable silence followed. Several of the women in the crowd looked toward the ground.

"What chance do we have against monsters?" replied the elder. "We're nothing but a simple farming village. We have no choice but to seek help."

"Really? How many adventurers have you sent out to solve your problem before asking Ranma?" demanded Alice.

"Five others," admitted the elder with clear reluctance. "But what would you have us do?"

"Stand up for yourselves! Or at the very least don't abandon a defenseless child for your own well being."

"Alice," murmured Ranma softly as the group of women began to mutter amongst themselves. "What the hell are you doing?"

"Making a point," replied Alice while doing little to keep the tone of her voice down. "This is what blind faith in Ilias does to people. They sit around and wait for deliverance without even taking the most basic steps towards solving their own problems."

"I thought the whole point of this adventuring thing was to help people do what they couldn't."

"There's a difference between being unable to do anything and not even trying," retorted Alice. "Even the guards in Iliasburg tried to fight Granberia."

"So you're encouraging them to attack the harpies? Shouldn't you be against that?"

"It won't come to a fight," muttered Alice. "Not if the Harpy Queen is doing what I know she's doing."

"You said you didn't know her!"

"She's still a monster queen, and there's really only one purpose these kidnappings serve."

The clamor of the villagers started to get louder. Soon the voices were loud enough for Ranma to hear.

"She's right. We need to do something."

"I'm tired of sitting here and being useless! We've got plenty of sharp farming tools!"

"We should start a bonfire and make some torches."

"Maybe I could turn our bees into a weap...no, that's a stupid idea."

"Hang on a sec," interrupted Ranma as he stepped into the middle of the fast forming mob. "How much do you actually know about your opponent?"

"What do you mean?" asked the elder.

"Yeah but...how many are there? Are they keeping the men hostage somewhere? Who's leading them?" pressed Ranma.

The building rancor seemed to cool a bit at his questions.

"I'm still going," said the village elder, resolute. Her resolve was quickly echoed by the mob, which had only grown larger as more and more of the villagers joined.

"Let me go first," insisted Ranma. "Lady Sutherland asked me to help out, and I could at least check the place out and see what's going on."

"Probably lots of sex," said Alice flatly.

Ranma twitched slightly, but it seemed he had been the only one to hear her.

"We'll only wait for so long," said the elder. "We'll still need some time to organize ourselves."

"Just give me a couple hours," urged Ranma. "It'll be better than charging in blind."

"But you're so good at charging in blind," murmured Alice.

"Yeah well I'm going scouting first so you should be proud of me," huffed Ranma.

"We'll wait," agreed the elder.

"Good. Now, where can I get some cold water?"

* * *

"You're planning to fight the queen as a female?"

Ranma's eye twitched slightly at Granberia's first question. "I'm not planning on fighting anyone. It'll just be less awkward if I do fight."

"Not the worst idea you've had," said Alice on his other side as she moved through the forest in her snake form. "Outside of succubi, there aren't many monsters who play the field."

"That has nothing to do with it!" lied Ranma quickly. "I jump higher and move faster like this and my opponents can fly. I need to be as nimble as possible."

"They might actually go easier on a potential husband they can capture," said Alice, amused.

"Then I'll stay like this."

"Whatever. Granberia, did you find the location of the village?"

"Of course. I followed the harpy that flew from Happiness Village. It's just over a mile northwest of here," said Granberia.

"You did?" asked Ranma, surprised.

"Good. Take Ranma there so she doesn't end up wandering this forest for hours," ordered Alice.

"You're not going to intervene?" asked Granberia.

"I'd prefer not to," said Alice, her amused tone disappearing. "I don't know enough about the current queen and things have been strained between the harpies and the throne after what happened with Refletsia."

Granberia's brow furrowed slightly. "Who?"

"The last harpy queen. She didn't give up her throne peacefully. I've heard nominally positive things about her successor, Lucretia, but she's clearly been in open defiance of my orders for months now."

"So why not just go in there and make her stop?" asked Ranma.

"Because that's not going to solve the underlying problem."

"And...you think I'm going to do a better job?"

"Not a chance in hell," said Alice immediately.

"Gee, thanks..."

"The only ones who are going to be able to solve this problem are the women of Happiness Village. It would help if the men stepped up, too."

Ranma's confusion was plain. "The men? What are they doing?"

"Easier for you to just see for yourself," replied Alice. "Good luck fighting the queen."

"I'm not going to fight the queen!" protested Ranma, hotly. "I'm only going to look around."

"How exactly were you planning on doing that?" asked Granberia. "It's broad daylight and you stand out."

"By using a secret technique."

"Hmph. I knew you were hiding more techniques."

"I wasn't hiding it, it wouldn't have worked against you. Are you going to be doing anything?"

Granberia looked hesitant before she cast a glance towards Alice.

"If this actually turns into a full-scale war, I'll be counting on Granberia to stop it," said Alice. "Until that happens, I'll see if the humans and the harpies can sort this out on their own."

The trees thinned out until finally the harpy's village came into view. The sight was rather spectacular to behold. In the middle was a giant tree, one of the largest Ranma had ever seen. It stretched skyward with several sections hollowed out into homes with several harpies just barely visible inside. Numerous branches twisted away from the tree, many of them supporting more human looking homes of their own, while some of the surrounding smaller trees were connected to the central one with rope bridges.

"I'll be back in a bit."

Striding forward, Ranma looked towards the sky. No lookouts, no soldiers, or at least they weren't visible. By all accounts it seemed as though the place was just a normal, if slightly oddly situated village.

Ranma waited until Alice and Granberia were out of sight before she began to steady her breath, and focus on her Soul of Ice. Slowly, she slipped into the Umisenken.

Her presence faded away. First with her ki, then from the five senses. By the time she set foot on the first ramp, the harpies lounging in the trees nearby didn't even glance in her direction. It didn't take long before snippets of conversation to reach her.

"Reina came back empty clawed today. Said the village got a new mercenary, and he's quite a looker."

"Think he'll attack us too?"

"Maybe, but Lucretia will deal with him just like the others."

"I dunno...she's been kind of depressed lately..."

Moving past the pair in the branches, Ranma glanced in on the houses. Very few of them were actually 'private' in the sense of having drawn curtains or locked doors. Many of them were open, letting in the cool breeze and giving Ranma a clear view of-

"Do you like it when I squeeze you like this?"

"Haaa...oh Pina...I can't hold back!"

"Don't try dear, Pii really wants a new sister. Let it aaaaaalll out~"

Stumbling back from the window, Ranma caught herself on the rope bridge, a bright blush on her face.

 _Could have at least closed the damn curtains!_

Despite the sounds from the house, none of the harpies seemed to take notice, and it soon became apparent that this was far from the only household engaged in such activity.

"You want me to move my wings like _this_?"

"Ohh...preen me...just like that!"

"Isn't this much better than adventuring out in the wilderness?"

"Ahh...y-yes...I never want to leave..."

"My wife never treated me like this..."

By the time Ranma finally reached the top of the tree, she was nursing a small headache from exasperation. "No chains, no cages, nothing keeping them here but sex," she grumbled to herself. It was the only thing that seemed to be on the village's mind, as even the ones not engaged in sex were talking about the potential new 'adventurer' and who might be the lucky harpy to nab him.

Now everything Alice had hinted at made sense. This wasn't a community of warriors so much as one starved of males. Even the elderly males had been cuddled up with harpies, escape the furthest thing from their minds.

The erotic sounds faded as Ranma made her way higher into the tree. The last house nested in the uppermost branches had to belong to someone important, and unlike the others, there were no ladders or paths connected to it. None of that was an obstacle to her though, and with a few well-placed jumps, Ranma slipped from the trees and into the spacious house.

Even though the outside was inaccessible to humans, the inside wouldn't have looked out of place for a human's house. A large circular bed took up one corner, hidden slightly by a curtain. A single bookcase rested against the wall, and a hearth for cooking was tucked away in the corner. The only thing that hinted at this occupant's importance was the plush, red rug beneath her feet and a throne facing the entrance.

Already, Ranma could see problems with a frontal assault. Short of outright burning the tree down, the narrow walkways and ladders that made up a majority of the paths were barely fit for two people at a time. Against flying opponents, using those paths was out of the question.

 _Not that these idiots want saving._

A rustle of wings drew her attention to the outside. A moment later the doors to the house were pushed open, admitting the largest harpy Ranma had seen yet. Even if she couldn't have sensed her energy, the poise and presence alone would have been enough to identify her as the queen, and the pink feathers combined with the violet hair made her stand out far more than the other harpies.

Ranma moved ever so slightly, just to make sure she didn't get brushed as the queen passed, yet there was a slight tilt of the harpy's head in her direction.

Slowly, the harpy made her way to the throne before she turned and sat down, her piercing green eyes staring right at the corner where Ranma was standing.

"If you'd wished for an audience with me, you only need to have asked." The way the harpy queen was looking at her suggested that she had an idea of where her body was, but not her eyes. "You hide your presence well, but you can't hide from the wind. Why not reveal yourself so we might talk properly?"

Ranma didn't drop the cloak immediately. Instead, she took a few steps to the side and watched as the queen's head followed her. That more or less proved it. Releasing the hold on her ki, the umisenken dropped. "Guessing you're Lucretia then. Don't know what you want to talk about. I've seen everything I need to."

Lucretia examined Ranma, with her wings settled on the arms of her throne. A clear indication that she wasn't about to jump into a fight. "You guess correctly. I am Lucretia, queen of the harpies. Tell me, just what have you seen?"

"Enough. Men here are pretty pathetic. Not even sure why you'd want 'em."

"It's not ideal," she agreed, to Ranma's surprise. "But it has been years since there were so many men in our village. Some pampering is to be expected."

"Why even bother with the kidnapping? Don't see anyone in a hurry to leave."

"It's because opening up a dialogue with the humans was rendered impossible by Ilias' edicts. There was simply no other way."

"Yeah, I'm hearing her name thrown around as an excuse a lot in this world and I don't buy any of them," said Ranma flatly.

"Then what would you do?"

"Send some of the men back," answered Ranma. "Let them talk to the village."

"But none of them want to go back," countered Lucretia. "They're simply too embarrassed about betraying Ilias' ideals after following them for so long."

"Yeah, sure they are. And I bet the fact that they skipped out on their village has nothing to do with it."

"That may be true, but that doesn't mean we can force them to be diplomats."

"Didn't seem to have a problem kidnapping them in the first place. Including the kids."

The queen's eyes narrowed. "I specifically forbade anyone from laying a single claw on the children of Happiness Village!"

"Yeah, well, they're not listening. One of your harpies had her claws in a boy before I kicked her off."

That brought a small sigh out of the queen. "Reina failed to inform me of that. Although...she did say that the one who had defeated her had been a black-haired male."

 _Crap!_

"That's not important," said Ranma quickly.

"You don't seem to be in disguise. There is a hint of magic about you, though," continued the watchful harpy.

Ranma now noticed that the wind was moving subtly around her. It was oddly soothing, almost as though it were caressing, rather than pushing outright against. The only sign that the queen was doing anything was a slight movement of her wings.

"You're getting all that from the wind?" asked Ranma, impressed.

"The wind tells me many things. Such as how your body is tense and ready to react like a tightened spring, and how you're nervous about this mysterious male." Lucretia had a calm smile on her face now that only made Ranma more uneasy. "So what is your secret?"

"An ancient Chinese training ground and a cursed spring. Can we go back to talking about your village?"

The smile only grew. "Did you disguise yourself to avoid temptation?"

"It's not a disguise," snapped Ranma, her cheeks growing hot with a blush.

"If I promise not to seduce you, will you show me?"

"No! What kind of promise is that anyways? I got somewhere to be!"

Ranma turned towards the door...and then suddenly jumped away from a pink blur as the queen's wings swept through the air like a blade. The brush of feathers was just barely felt against her arm as the wind rushed to catch up with the queen's movements.

"You dodged," said Lucretia as she brought her wings back to a neutral position at her sides.

"Why...why wouldn't I?" said Ranma, trying to hide the fact that she was as surprised as the queen. She hadn't seen or felt anything from her...how had she known to move? Something must have given her away.

Lucretia's surprise faded into playfulness once more. "It seems your gender isn't the only secret you're keeping. Now I'm very curious."

The curtains fluttered inward as the wind picked up and blew in a swirl around the queen. Her wings spread and her stance widened, the regal aura faded, and a more predatory one took over. "What's your name, adventurer?"

"Ranma Saotome. And I'm not an adventurer, I'm a martial artist."

As the words left her mouth, Ranma knew she'd made a mistake. Lucretia's grin widened, and the next few seconds were a blur of motion.

Graceful as a dancer, the harpy queen rode the wild winds and lunged forward, sweeping out her wings in powerful strikes that cut into the wooden walls of her house and scattered the furnishings. The feathers that looked so invitingly soft before were now like steel, turning aside Ranma's blows while the crosswind staggered her balance. She could feel the queen's energy both in the air and the wings, but it was moving too chaotically to keep track of.

Worse still, Ranma could sense she was being toyed with. Lucretia was holding back from the lethal strikes those wings were certainly capable of. She was trying to catch her, and the confined space was only working to her advantage.

Grimacing, Ranma brought some energy to her hands and prepared her special technique...

* * *

Roderick let out a small sigh as he felt feathers tickling across his bare chest. Defiantly, he turned to his side and tried to tug the blankets over his body, but his wife of three months was insistent, continuing the gentle torture until finally he opened his eyes.

"Nnhh...what time is it?"

"It's afternoon, sweetie. You're going to ruin your sleep schedule if you stay in bed for much longer."

"Pipa, you were the one who made me exhausted in the first place..."

"And now I'm going to make you exhausted again so you can sleep properly," came her playful reply. "Now let's-"

"MOKO TAKABISHA!"

 **CRASH!**

"Coming through!"

Roderick jerked up in bed as a bright blue ball of energy lanced down through the ceiling, continued through the floor, and left a pair of large holes in its wake. A second later a green and red blur went straight through them. Before he could even fathom what he'd seen, a second blur followed, larger than the first, widening the holes further with her passage.

"You can't run from the wind!"

The voices faded into the distance, more crashes and startled shrieks rang out as the two carved a path of mayhem through the harpy village.

"Should we..." started Roderick.

"The queen can handle it," insisted Pipa, moving to block her husband's view of the twin holes that now decorated their house. "Besides, you're awake now, right?"

* * *

Ranma wasn't fleeing as much as she was creatively falling through the various houses, structures, and pathways.

Giving close chase, Lucretia swooped, dived, and lunged, the wind always at her back and working with her while constantly buffeting Ranma. Every so often Ranma was forced to take a destructive detour through solid obstacles to hamper the queen's flight path.

The ground was in sight though, and the forest was visible beyond that. Kicking off the base of the tree, Ranma rolled as she impacted the grassy floor and sprinted towards the treeline, confident that her legs would carry her through the dense foliage far more readily than the queen's wings.

And then, in the back of her mind, she felt the wind shift and compress. The energy in the air flowed into a new shape, the element bending before it was unleashed. Even though she couldn't tell how she could feel it...she felt it all the same.

Her body shifted, her foot turned, and with a harsh kick, Ranma struck out at that energy, directing her own ki to channel it into a new path. Beside her, the grass was torn up and dirt went flying, the immense blade of air carving a swath of destruction that continued well into the forest and stripped the bark from trees.

Slowly, Ranma turned back around and watched as Lucretia gently landed on the ground, her eyes wide as she looked at the path her attack had taken. "Ah...that...was excessive."

Ranma looked down at the scar in the ground and then back towards the queen. Her expression had changed from the playful smile to a far more somber look, her wings falling to her sides.

"I'm sorry, I did not mean to escalate things so rapidly. It's just been...years since there was anyone who was even close to being my equal. Please, leave this village in peace and-"

"Do it again."

Lucretia quieted abruptly and looked at Ranma in surprise. "...what?"

"Do it again. I felt something. I don't know how to explain it but the way you were pushing that energy around...I wanna feel it again."

"But that attack could have killed you!"

"I'm fine, really! Let's go! This was just getting interesting!"

"I thought you were running away...?"

"No, I just didn't want to fight you up in a tree with unstable footing. Come on, please?"

"I'm...really not much for violence..."

"Well could you at least tell me how that wind thing works? I've been feeling that energy prickling at the back of my neck ever since I got here and it's driving me nuts."

"Here as in...this village?" Lucretia, puzzled.

"No, I mean this wor- actually, that would take too long to explain. Let's just keep going. I'm sure I'll get the hang of it." Rolling her neck, Ranma brought her arms up at the ready, eager to start the next round.

The queen seemed less enthusiastic. "I'm sorry Ranma, things never should have come to this. Maybe we can-"

"There she is! Attack!"

Ranma's head whipped around just in time to see the first of the Happiness Villagers break through the treeline, the women brandishing pitchforks, lit torches, and sharpened sticks. There was a clear nervous tension in the air, but mob psychology seemed to have taken the place of fear. And yet...

 _They don't stand a chance!_

A single sweep of her wings and another burst of air like before would easily scatter all of them...yet the queen remained still, a melancholic look on her face as she watched the mob get closer without so much as a twitch from her wing.

 _She isn't doing anything. Why isn't she doing anything?_

Right before the first villager could get within striking range, Ranma moved, interjecting herself between the queen and the sharp farming tool being pointed at her. "I've got things here, go rescue the men!" she ordered. When she saw the uncertainty, Ranma upped the volume of her voice. "What are you waiting for? Go!"

Thankfully, it didn't take much encouragement to turn the mob's attention elsewhere and the leader of the group turned the charge towards the interlaced trees and nests where the other harpies were emerging to see what the commotion was.

"You shouldn't have done that," said the queen at her back. "They're right to turn their hatred on me."

"That doesn't mean you deserve to be run through," replied Ranma.

"And my subjects do?" asked Lucretia sharply. "It would be better for them to turn their anger on me."

"Yeah that's not gonna happen," grumbled Ranma as he looked towards the village.

"Wait, Maria! Stop!"

"Ashley, please, put down the torch!"

"Shirley, I can explain!"

Stumbling out of the houses in various states of dress, the 'captive' males began to emerge, quickly trying to calm the mob.

"Alan? You...you're okay!"

"Mom, I'd like you to meet my new wife...and my two daughters."

"Clara, I'm sorry, I meant to write you...but, well, I'm married now. This is your new mother in-law."

"We're family now! Family shouldn't fight family!"

The anger had broken, giving way to confusion as families were reunited and the health and well-being of the men were assured.

"You knew this was going to happen?" asked the queen.

"Trust me, it's not the harpies that are going to need protecting," murmured Ranma, letting out a sigh as the mob's mood shifted from confused relief back to anger.

"What do you mean you're happily married? What about our daughter?"

"W-Well, we can be a big family together, right?"

"You idiot! Do you have any idea how worried we were?"

"Were you going to abandon us to take care of the village all by ourselves?"

"I was meaning to say something but-"

"But what? Were you too busy with your new wife?"

Similar arguments were breaking out all over the place as everyone 'discovered' their new extended families.

"You lazy ass! I'll kill you!"

"Hurk! Gak...we should be at peace! Ow!"

"Ahh! Lina I'm sorry! Mercy!"

"Forgive me Ranma, but I should see to my kin," said Lucretia kindly.

"Yeah I know...wish they could have waited a couple minutes longer," said Ranma as she waved the queen off. With her arms placed behind her head, Ranma flopped backwards and watched the queen join the mob. "I'm never going to get to see that technique again."

"I thought you didn't want to fight her?"

Tilting her head slightly, Ranma peered up at Alice, who had again made a stealthy approach. "Yeah yeah, you were right. I ended up fighting her. Gloat about it why don't you?"

"Maybe later," said Alice. Her gaze turned to the infighting villagers. "Are you going to just lay here and let things play out?"

"Hell if I'm getting in the middle of that," scoffed Ranma, waving her arm in the direction of the crowd of harpies and humans, the former of which seemed to be holding the human women back from throttling the missing men. "It's actually kinda nice to be on the sidelines rather than the middle for once."

"You've been in the middle of something like that? How would you solve it then?" asked Alice, taking a seat next to Ranma on the grass, legs crossed.

"I dunno. Usually they just take a few swings at me until they're tired out."

"That's a terrible way to resolve arguments."

"Hey, I didn't say it was the best way, it's just what's worked for me! Why did the villagers charge in anyways? I thought they were waiting till I came back?"

On her right, Ranma briefly felt a surge of energy as Granberia seemed to step straight out of thin air and into the space beside her. "They were, until they started hearing the crashing and the roaring winds. At that point they assumed you were in danger and were set on coming to your aid. A shame, I would have enjoyed seeing the harpy queen really cut loose."

"You and me both," agreed Ranma. "Whatever. Not my problem anymore. Did you know this was happening, Alice?"

"Not entirely, but it seemed the most likely case. Harpies are very family oriented and nurturing. It was highly unlikely any of the men were being forced to stay."

"So why didn't you do anything?"

"Who says I didn't?"

Ranma opened her mouth but paused. A few pieces of the puzzle pulled themselves into place. "You...goaded them on purpose? Why?"

"Because I can't very well tell my subordinate to let her race die out and I couldn't convince the humans of the queen's intentions when she'd been kidnapping males. I can, however, feed their rage some, put a volatile human into the mix, and force a confrontation that both sides were avoiding."

The confrontation in question seemed to be reaching a bit of a lull now as the queen's presence calmed down the harpies and the males both. The village elder she'd seen earlier was talking directly with her now while her 'kidnapped' husband seemed to be staying out of her line of sight.

"What a mess," said Ranma, turning her head to the sky.

"It's a microcosm of what this world is going through right now," said Alice. "And every single region has its own unique problems."

"The real problem is Ilias," said Granberia with a scoff. "Although these pathetic males who would rather live a life of being coddled aren't helping."

"You do remember the harpy that tried to kidnap that kid, right?" reminded Ranma.

"Hmph. Perhaps both sides are hopeless in that case," Granberia conceded.

"Like I said. Giant mess. At least they've put the weapons down...for now. You gonna help out now?"

"Only if the queen requests my presence," replied Alice. "Otherwise it will be best for her to make a deal on her own terms."

* * *

Arguments continued long into the afternoon, the torches the villagers had brought being put to use in making a bonfire while the debates continued. For her part, Ranma was content to stay out of it, even getting a brief nap in and a small meal when food was brought out. Tensions finally ran dry at the eleventh hour with the village chief and harpy queen speaking carefully with one another as they finalized an agreement.

"So...in exchange for your village helping out in the fields and helping to take care of the bees, we in turn will send males from our village to be wed with the harpies in your village on the provision that no one is separated from their family."

"And we, as a village, accept the terms of your agreement," concluded Lucretia. Around her, the crowds of harpies and humans seemed to let out a collective sigh of relief, though there were still those among the crowd shooting dirty looks at one another. With the agreement reached, however, the crowd began to disperse, the humans heading back to their village while the harpies took to the trees.

Letting out a small yawn and stretching her arms, Ranma glanced around to see where Alice had gotten to and was completely unsurprised to find her sitting near the makeshift table laden with food. Before she could make her way there, however, a rustle of wings and a calm voice drew her attention.

"Your companion...am I right in assuming that she is the monster lord?"

Even though the negotiations had clearly worn her out, Lucretia looked a lot more relaxed than she had before, as if a weight had been lifted from her.

"When she feels like it, I guess," replied Ranma.

"I've never met her before today. What kind of monster is she?"

"Beats me. I've known her less than a week."

The harpy queen looked surprised. "And...she's traveling with you? Why?"

"Dunno. She won't give me a straight answer."

Lucretia's wing moved to her face, hiding a small smile. "Does that mean she has yet to properly claim you?"

Ranma choked slightly. "What? No! No one has 'claimed' me and no one is going to 'claim' me! Besides, I'm a girl, remember?"

"That doesn't stop every monster," said the queen, clearly amused with Ranma's flustered state. "But tell me...what is your secret? What turns a handsome dark haired male into a lovely, red-haired female so easily?"

Ranma avoided her gaze. "Nothing. I don't even know who you're talking about."

Even though the lie was obvious, Lucretia never lost her smile. "What if I were to tell you a secret in exchange? You were curious about how I used the wind, yes?"

Despite herself, Ranma couldn't help but show curiosity, watching as the queen spread her wings and rose into the air, keeping aloft while the wind picked up around her. "It is simply a natural element of the world. With time and patience, anyone can sense it, manipulate it, speak with it, and play with it."

Her body twirled, a rush of wind accompanying her ascent, yet it was focused to the point where Ranma could only feel a fraction of it brushing against her arm. Just like when she'd been using it to attack, the wind seemed to follow her desires, rather than be actively bent to her will, almost as if she were coaxing it rather than pushing it like she did with her Hiryu Shoten Ha.

"And then, when you've achieved this state, you can move with it and let it carry you!" Lucretia's wings flapped and suddenly Ranma felt her feet flying out from beneath her. In a single instant the wind had turned from a soothing gale to a thunderous storm. Her body twisted in the air, poised to land properly, but the harpy queen was already on top of her, swooping low and digging her talons into the waist of her pants.

A hard flap of her wings took them both skyward. The wind raged around them both in a tightly controlled tornado, their bodies suspended in the air before the queen wrapped her wings tight around Ranma's back and pulled her smaller body into hers.

"Hey, what's the big id-mmph!" Ranma scarcely get the words out before Lucretia's lips pressed against hers. The kiss wasn't demanding or forceful, but it was insistent, and Ranma's panicked tongue was no match for the queen's skilled offensive.

Impossibly soft and gentle feathers were rubbing over every inch of her back, her clothing doing little to diminish their comforting touch. In the places where Ranma's skin was bare, the feathers felt absolutely heavenly, and teased her relentlessly as the kiss deepened and grew more passionate. She barely even noticed when the winds around them had stilled, though when Lucretia finally landed, it was only her strong wings keeping Ranma steady.

Slowly, the kiss relaxed and then broke, though the wings seemed to grow tighter when Ranma tried to catch her breath, her covered chest pushing at the queen's barely clothed one. "You and your companions are welcome to stay the night here," said Lucretia as her feathers gently stroked Ranma's back and arms. "And if you wish to learn more about the wind, you need only visit me in my home."

Another squeeze, another soft kiss on Ranma's open mouth, and with a flap of her wings she was gone, a faint breeze rustling the grass as she left.

Ranma took several seconds to collect her thoughts, a hand slowly moving to her lips. "Wha...what just happened?" she murmured quietly.

"She invited you to have sex with her, idiot."

The blunt and sudden response from Alice made Ranma jump in surprise as she realized she was right next to the food table. "No one asked you!"

Finishing off the last of the bread she'd taken from the table, Alice looked up to where the queen had flown to. "Are you going? She does know a lot about manipulating the wind and clearly wouldn't mind if you showed up female."

"No! I'm not doing anything like that!" replied Ranma hotly.

"Why not? She seems to like you. Are wings not your thing?"

"That's not it at all! Just..."

"You're not going to survive long in this world if a kiss gets you this flustered. Maybe you _should_ visit her. Might be worthwhile training."

"I'm going to bed," said Ranma abruptly, whirling around to hide her blush. "If anyone comes into my room, I'm blasting them."

"Might be a risk some harpies are willing to take," called Alice after him.

Deciding it was better to let her have the victory rather than encourage her, Ranma quickly made his escape, vowing to block the door and the windows for good measure. Yet even after she'd found and secured her room, the queen's offer lingered in the back of her mind and the phantom touch of her feathers took some time to fully fade.


	5. Chapter 5: Spelunking

There was nothing quite like the threat of live steel to help chase away lingering fantasies and pleasant dreams. While Harpy Village had been plenty accommodating for Ranma, it'd been far from restful even after she'd barricaded her room. The barricade worked in keeping out the harpies, but it hadn't stopped Granberia's desire for a morning spar. Unlike her old man though, Granberia woke him up with a face full of _warm_ water.

One quick trip to the outskirts of the village later and the air was soon filled with the sound of ringing steel and grunts of exertion.

"You're distracted," observed Granberia.

"I'm thinking," retorted Ranma. "I've been trying to figure out these element things. You use them, Lucretia used them, and I'm pretty sure Alice is using something like them, too."

"All monsters use them," said Granberia, not breaking her pace as her sword blurred through the air, keeping Ranma on the defensive. "Some monster families are better attuned to particular elements than others."

Ranma ducked under a series of quick jabs, weaved around a horizontal slash, and came up inside Granberia's guard. "And what about humans?" he asked, landing two quick punches on her chest before he slipped away.

"I thought you were a spirit-using human when we first fought," confessed Granberia, stumbling slightly from the blows before returning with her own offensive. "Your ability to maintain a serene state of mind is impressive." The memory of that fight seemed to excite her, as the next few blows came far faster than before and severed some unfortunate branches in her way. "The only human that mastered the power of the spirits passed from this world five hundred years ago."

Ranma frowned, taking the increased pace of the fight in stride. Granberia clearly had some energy to burn after sitting on the sidelines of the Happiness Village conflict. Waiting for the perfect jab, Ranma suddenly clapped his hands together and caught her sword mid-thrust. "What do you mean by spirits?"

Granberia gave him a curious look. "The spirits are the ones who govern the elements in this world. Earth, fire, wind, and water. It's through their will that the power can be used. Such as when I call upon the spirit of fire..."

The blade in-between Ranma's palms started to tingle and he felt the energy there, as if it were coming from the outside and being drawn in, but he couldn't feel its source. His eyes widened when he realized what was going to happen, taking his hands away before the sword ignited with an ethereal flame.

"How do you call upon them? Is there like a ritual or something?" he asked while blowing on his fingers.

"You call upon them by going to where they live and asking for their help."

Alice sneaking up on him had become so commonplace by now that Ranma didn't even flinch as the disguised monster lord made her appearance. Granberia's surprise was evident though, her sword winking out, and her stance quickly shifting to one of attention rather than combat.

"They have homes?" asked Ranma, confused. "It's not some sort of thing on a higher plane of existence?"

"How would they control the elements if they weren't even around them?" replied Alice with a scoff. "No, the fire spirit is in the Gold Volcano on the Sentora continent. Been there for the last five hundred years."

"And...you can just go... _visit_ them?"

"If you can survive the heat of a volcano, yes. If you're thinking about making contracts though, forget it. You'd need to have a noble goal or quest you're trying to achieve for them to even consider it."

 _Yeah, can't really argue with that. Nothing all that noble about, 'I got lost and I'm trying to find my way back home.'_

"My lord, was there something you desired?" asked Granberia after a moment.

"Yes, I'm here to join your morning practice."

"You...you are?" Granberia didn't even attempt to hide her surprise.

"Just because I don't go looking for fights doesn't mean I don't practice." Alice stepped in between them, her arms crossed beneath her breasts as she looked to the both of them. "Well? We'll need to go soon. Don't keep me waiting."

Not having any of Granberia's reservations, Ranma obliged and quickly jumped into the fray. He was curious how well Alice could fight in her humanoid body. The first barrage of punches he sent out was met with a flurry of her own. Even disguised, Ranma could feel her aura of power blunting his strikes, but it was less potent than it was before.

Spurred by his action, Granberia soon joined alongside him, though her blows were more hesitant...at least until Alice punished that hesitance with a palm strike to the forehead hard enough to make her helmet ring.

While no one had spoken of any rules, it didn't take long for Ranma and Granberia to focus their attention primarily on Alice, each one taking turns at testing her defenses. Alice lacked neither speed nor strength as she repeatedly turned away sword and fist, staying mostly in one place. The only crack in her defenses seemed to be a lack of refinement in her technique which, Ranma reasoned, made sense given that her normal body had a tail instead of legs.

Even so, what blows did get through didn't do much, and Granberia's sword couldn't even pierce Alice's clothing let alone her skin. Each engagement ended with a decisive, powerful strike from her that staggered Ranma and Granberia in turn. Still, as the fight went on, the downtime between Ranma and Granberia's attacks were growing shorter. The two of them were adapting their technique and fighting together more and more without getting in each other's way. Soon, Alice was fully on the defensive, with more strikes getting through, and finally pushing her back.

Or was she? A moment too late, Ranma noticed the trap, the stance shifting slightly right before her leg swept out and caught Granberia in the side with enough force to lift her off her feet. Having used only her arms to that point, the sudden shift in style caught the swordswoman off guard.

This time she didn't wait for Ranma to engage. Instead she leaped towards him, leg extended. Ranma was ready...or at least he thought he was. The air shimmered around her in mid-jump and suddenly Ranma was on his back, buried beneath a pile of coils.

"That's enough for now," said Alice sweetly. "We have some traveling to do and if we stay much longer, Lucretia might want to come and watch."

Ranma groaned inwardly as he noticed the harpies up in the trees. Well, that secret was out of the bag.

* * *

The air over Happiness Village was one Ranma was quite familiar with. Cold, menacing, and ready to break into violence at a moment's notice. It'd been a common occurrence back in Nerima when more than two of his suitors gathered in the same place, but this was clearly village-wide.

Granberia gave voice to his thoughts. "It feels like a fight is about to break out."

Part of that tension was almost definitely coming from the harpies in the field, now working alongside the villagers. While they weren't quite as adept at manipulating farm tools, they were good at carrying loads to and from the fields.

Alice, once again in human form, nodded. "It won't be a smooth transition. It's admirable it only took one day to reach an agreement."

"Welcome to Happiness Village, home of the famous Happiness Honey."

Ranma paused, looking at the male who had greeted them while standing stoically in place. "What are you doing?"

The young man sighed. "I'm the village greeter. This was my job before I got kidnapped."

"How many people do you actually greet like this?" asked Alice.

The man shrugged. "Not many. Getting kidnapped was the most interesting thing to happen to me in months."

"Why don't you find a new job?" suggested Ranma.

"Well, being a harpy house husband was better, but that's not an option anymore.

Granberia fixed him with a cold glare. "Your potential 'wives' are in the fields working for their keep, you can do the same."

The town greeter balked at her look. "I um...I think I see someone that needs greeting over there."

Granberia watched him run out of sight and let out a huff. "If these women don't start demanding better from their men, everyone is going to suffer. Why did we come back here?"

"For our reward, naturally," said Alice, as the village elder emerged from the town hall with her husband. There was a very obvious and painful tension between the two, but Alice was far more focused on the bright golden jar of honey in the elder's hands.

"Brave martial artist, thank you for coming to the aid of our village," said the chieftess.

"Yes, thank you so much for bringing an end to my life of comfort," continued the chief. "Now instead of a quiet retirement I get to spend more time with this shrew of a-ow!"

"Pay my husband no mind," said the elder as she removed the tip of her staff from his foot, "and please accept this honey on our behalf. It's some of our finest stock, guaranteed to enhance the flavor of anything, and even boost sexual performance."

Ranma swore he saw Alice lick her lips from the corner of his eye. "Like you need help with that." With a nod, he accepted the reward from the chief and stowed it in his pack.

Alice let out a hmph. "If you waste that you'll be paying me personally."

"I'd be worried if I'd ever seen you refuse a meal."

"Brave martial artist, where do you plan on heading next?" interrupted the elder.

"North to Ilias Port, then to Sentora, hopefully."

"Ah, that warms my heart to hear. Clearly one such as you would be more than capable of sorting out their problems as well."

Ranma's eyes narrowed. "Problems?"

* * *

Lady Sutherland positively beamed at Ranma's inquiry. "Thank you so much for agreeing to help us! I knew you were a true hero! I have a sense for these sorts of things."

"That's my darling," said Alice playfully as she enjoyed the tea and cakes that had been laid out for them. "Always getting suckered into solving other people's problems."

"I never said I was going to...ugh, never mind. Please, tell me what's going on _this_ time."

"Well, it's a bit difficult to say. For the past few years, getting a ship to Sentora has been almost impossible. At first, it was only a few ships being sunk every year, but lately, any ship that even tries to leave the harbor gets swept up in a storm and comes back with its mast cut and sails torn. It's made getting supplies from overseas impossible."

"What kinds of supplies?"

"Oh nothing vital, but I've had to cut back my menu quite a bit. My inn used to serve all manner of delicacies from all over the world."

"This is a terrible problem that should be addressed immediately," said Alice suddenly. "What's your plan, Ranma?"

Ranma nearly choked on his tea. "How should I know? I can't punch a storm!"

"Right, you only create them. My mistake."

"There might be a solution," interjected Lady Sutherland. "In fact, I think I have an old notice laying around somewhere. Give me a minute you two."

As the proprietress walked off, Ranma watched as Alice's expression turned from amusement to annoyance. "What's really going on? Another monster queen?"

"Exactly that," said Alice. "On orders from Tamamo most likely."

"Someone else is ordering the queens? I thought you were the monster lord."

"I didn't officially take the throne until a few years ago," admitted Alice. "Until that time, Tamamo acted as reagent. She was probably the one to order this continent isolated."

Ranma frowned. "Why? Was the food here just too tempting for you?"

The jab didn't even prompt a reaction. Alice had clearly flipped over from gourmet to ruler. "It was to make sure no 'heroes' tried to kill me before I took the throne. I imagine the task was entrusted to Leviathan at first, but now it seems like Alma Elma has taken over."

Making a mental note to ask about the names later, Ranma put forward the obvious solution. "Tell her to stop then? You're the monster lord now." Already he could see she wasn't thrilled with the plan. "Okay, what's wrong with that?"

"Tamamo usually has a good reason for what she does," admitted Alice. "I'd like to confer with her first. It's possible that she's protecting the weaker monsters from adventurers, too."

"Like monsters need protecting," scoffed Ranma.

"Would either of you like a refill?"

It took Ranma a moment to place the voice, but even with her new headdress and maid skirt, the young lamia Teeny was immediately recognizable. "Sure, I'll take one. How are you four getting along?"

Teeny beamed as she refilled his cup. "Great! We've got a new hideout in the city big enough for all of us. You should visit some time!"

"Soon. Maybe," said Ranma noncommittally. "Tell the others I said hi and to keep up with their training."

With a happy nod, Teeny refilled Alice's cup before slithering to the next table. Across from him, Alice raised a brow.

"Okay, _some_ monsters need protecting," agreed Ranma. "But would Alma really attack a boat you're riding on? Wouldn't that be like...treason or something?"

"I'm trying to keep a low profile," reminded Alice. "You could always drive her off yourself."

"Not if she just destroys the boat under me."

"Found it!" The conversation was halted as Lady Sutherland excitedly rushed back to their table, a scroll in hand. "Well go on, give it a read."

Cautiously, Ranma unrolled the aged parchment. "Hear ye hear ye. Are there adventurers brave enough to uncover the hoard of the great pirate Selene? Passed from this world fifty years ago, her treasure has remained hidden...until now."

"One of the rumored treasures she possessed was the legendary Poseidon's Bell. It's said that any ship bearing it will never sink no matter how harsh the waves or winds become."

"Why would she hide a thing like that?" wondered Alice aloud. "Shouldn't she have kept it with her ship?"

"A pirate like Selene? She'd have laughed at the very idea of using some trinket to face down storms. Sadly, no one on this continent has her skill or bravery, so that bell might have to do," said Lady Sutherland with a wistful sigh. "Still, even if the bell isn't there, a cave full of treasure would be a boon for any adventurer, right? I'll leave the scroll with you, just in case."

"Yeah, thanks. We'll look into it," said Ranma as she walked away. "Wouldn't be a bad idea to get some money. Exchanging favors for everything is annoying."

Turning the scroll over, Ranma frowned as he saw some smaller text on the back. "Recommended skills include thievery, perception, and...dungeoneering? What the heck is that?"

"It's the practice of delving into dungeons and exploring them. Is that not a thing in your world either?"

"Nope. Everyone I know puts their money in banks."

"Hmph. Your world sounds boring."

"Compared to this place? Yeah, it kinda is."

"What did you do back in your world?"

The question surprised Ranma, prompting him to think a moment. "I went to school, trained, and got into fights with my rivals. A lot. Kinda wonder what they're doing right now, honestly. I know at least a handful of 'em will be happy I'm gone."

"Their loss. You're useful to have around."

Ranma cocked his head. "Was that a compliment?"

Alice shrugged. "You can take it as one. Come on, we shouldn't keep Granberia waiting too long. When she gets bored, she gets into fights."

* * *

Granberia had clearly gotten into a few fights while they were gone. Two monsters had been laid out and knocked unconscious, one a strange looking plant-girl and another with menacing purple tentacles. Ranma made sure to give that one a wide berth.

"Another detour? For all your talk of not being an adventurer, you're certainly acting like one."

Ranma's eye twitched. "Remind me, between the two of you, how much money do you have?"

Granberia let out a 'hmph'. "I've never needed it before. Monster villages never charge the Heavenly Knights."

"Well I'm not a knight so I'm taking a detour now to avoid having to detour later," concluded Ranma.

"Don't mind her," cut in Alice. "She always gets like this when Alma Elma comes up."

Ranma could have sworn he saw some steam leave Granberia's nose. "I do not! I just think it's pointless."

"What's her deal anyways?" asked Ranma. "She's another Heavenly Knight, right?"

"She's a succubus and a particularly insufferable one at that," growled Granberia. "I'm amazed she even accepted the job of cutting off this continent."

"Wait...you mean like...summon from hell, invade your dreams, and suck out your soul type of succubus?"

Alice gave him a curious look. "You have succubi where you're from?"

"Er...maybe? I know some old lech that tried to summon one, but it didn't work."

"Well they're not like that here. You couldn't 'summon' Alma Elma any more than you could summon me, and the only thing they'll suck out is your semen and energy."

Ranma rolled his eyes. "So how does that make them different from regular monsters then?"

"Because they need energy constantly and they never shut up about it," huffed Granberia. Suddenly, her eyes narrowed on Ranma. "Where are you from, anyways?"

"Really...really far away," said Ranma vaguely. "I landed on this continent because of a freak accident."

Granberia blinked. "What kind of accident?"

Ranma hesitated for a moment before he caught Alice's gaze and slight nod. "I was following someone, there was an explosion, and the next thing I knew, Alice had fallen from the sky and landed in front of me."

The look Granberia gave him made it clear she was curious about the details, but she didn't press her questioning. "We should move. Port Ilias is a fair distance away."

Ranma hoisted his pack and fell into step beside her.

"This treasure cave. What kind of place is it?" asked Granberia

"Dunno, but it's a cave and caves are bad news. One thing I learned on my training trip? If there isn't something in there now, there will be soon," replied Ranma. "One had a pack of wolves waiting for us, and another had a pack of wolves to greet us when we woke up. And then there was one that was full of ghosts of broken up couples who-hnn!"

Ranma stopped suddenly as the tip of Alice's tail whipped towards his throat and pointed straight at his neck.

"There is no such thing as ghosts," she said icily.

Not moving a muscle, Ranma's eyes flicked between the tail and Alice's glare. "Something I should know?"

"No, nothing. They just don't exist," snapped Alice, withdrawing her tail as quickly as she'd brandished it. "Your story was stupid anyways. Talk about something else."

"My lord," began Granberia, "Are you afraid of-"

"One more word from you and I'm putting you in charge of watching over Succubus Village. And then I'll demote you to squire and force you to follow Alma around!"

"So that's what it looks like from the other side," murmured Ranma.

"Did you say something?"

Ranma vigorously shook his head.

"Good. The list of things I could do to you would make our inn visit trite by comparison!"

With a final glare towards the two of them, Alice slithered on ahead. Ranma stayed behind with Granberia, wisely choosing to give her some space. The dragon was the first to break the silence. "Honestly, what a child."

"Hey, we can't help what we're afraid of sometimes."

"You sound like you speak from experience."

Ranma choked slightly. "N-no! I've just seen a few things. What about you and succubi, huh? You've got issues with them?"

Granberia's sword was out in an instant. "I don't have 'problems' with succubi! How dare you imply that!"

"Yeah, cause that's a reasonable reaction," retorted Ranma, jumping away from her. "Does this Alma Elma beat you or some- yikes!"

"Come back here and I'll show you how much of a problem I have!" shouted Granberia, chasing after him.

"Can't do! Got a cave to explore!"

* * *

"By order of the Church of Ilias the following location known as 'Treasure Cave' has been sealed to all exploration until further notice," read Ranma as he looked at the sign that had been placed beside the cave entrance. "Known threats include traps, mimics, spiders, potential cave-ins, and gho...oblins."

Alice's eye twitched. "Let's get this over with before it gets dark."

"Hey Alice? You don't have to go in there if you don't want to," said Ranma carefully. "I can handle myself just fine."

"I'm going," said Alice sharply. "There's nothing in there I can't handle."

Ranma sighed but didn't press the issue. He was just as stubborn about his own phobia after all.

 _We'd be in real trouble if that stupid ghost furball showed up here..._

"I'll take the lead then." Ranma didn't wait for a response before stowing his pack and stepping up to the entrance, a solid punch breaking through the boards across the mouth of the cave. "Huh...okay, that's a bit odd."

The inside of the 'cave' was nothing like what Ranma had been expecting. In fact, the tunnel looked immaculately carved, the walls straight and the floor even. The only 'cave quality' it had was the uneven and rocky ceiling above.

Strangest of all, however, was the light. Ranma had prepared a torch but it was proven unnecessary. Along the walls at regular intervals were torches aplenty, yet instead of flames all of them held bright blue gems that gave of a pale glow, illuminating the hallway.

"Selene must have come through here often if she made it look this nice," observed Alice. "Or perhaps she did the pirate thing and commandeered it from someone else."

Granberia's eyes narrowed, peering as far ahead as she could. "Looks far too inviting. Stay alert."

"Don't need to tell me twice." Keeping the unlit torch in hand, Ranma pushed through the broken boards and into the hall with Granberia and Alice on either side. It didn't take long for the first trap to block their path, a series of raised stones with some suspicious looking holes in the walls to accompany them.

"Classic pressure sensitive floor with darts in the walls," noted Granberia. "There's probably a pattern-"

"Frost Ozma!"

A flash of blue light lit the corridor as energy formed in Alice's palms. Thrusting her arms out, the twin orbs flew through the air and struck both walls. The magic created solid sheets of ice that formed over both walls until every hole was covered.

"Keep moving," ordered Alice, fearlessly slithering over the pressure sensitive tiles, small 'click' sounds following as the darts failed to penetrate the icy barrier.

Ranma hurried to catch up with her. "Not that I'm saying there are any, but if we do happen to encounter one of those g-words, how do we beat them?"

"We collapse the cave and never speak of it again."

"Come on, can't you just throw a fireball at it or something?"

"I don't know because they don't exist. Now focus on the-"

"Nnhh...ahhhh..."

"Aaah!"

Ranma blinked and Alice's coils were wrapped tight around his legs and arms, the suddenness of it almost knocking him off his feet. "Alice!" croaked Ranma, his breath expelled from his lungs.

"Oh, sorry about that, did I surprise you?"

Turning his head upward proved difficult with Alice's arms tight around his neck, but the sight above almost made him wish he hadn't tried. The figure clinging to the ceiling was half spider and half human, and far...far larger than any spider should ever be. If it weren't for Alice's coils keeping him locked in place, he would have immediately given her some space.

"Sorry, those yawns just come without warning sometimes. Hey, that's a pretty cute boy you have there. Any chance-"

"Omega Blaze!"

"Eeep!"

Ranma felt the coils around him heat up as Alice sent a blazing fireball into the webs above, narrowly missing the spider girl as she fled along the ceiling, the webs turning to ashes behind her.

"Can't...move," groaned Ranma, belatedly pushing at Alice's coils.

Alice blinked as the embers died down around her before slowly unwinding herself from Ranma's body. "As I said, there's nothing in this cave that can threaten me."

CLICK!

Alice froze before slowly shifting her coil off of the floor section she'd moved to. "Putting a hidden pressure plate right after the visible ones? That's clever."

A faint rumbling echoed through the cave, followed by a crash as a large boulder fell through the ceiling, it's size filling the hallway as it rolled towards them.

Before Ranma could react, a green blur zipped by him.

"Chaos Star!"

Granberia's sword flashed in the crystal light, cutting cleanly into the boulder several times, halting its momentum before it fell to pieces in neatly severed chunks. Keeping her blade drawn, Granberia looked around, clearly alert for any follow-up traps.

A moment passed in silence before Alice spoke. "Thank you Granberia, that seems like everything for-"

CLICK!

Alice stopped again, watching as another section of floor rose that had been vacated by her coils. "Now this is just excessive."

Ranma's gaze turned towards the ceiling, but the trap came from below, the solid-appearing ground suddenly crumbling in an instant. "Crap!" The single word was all he had time to say before he tumbled into the darkness.

* * *

Walls, slippery. Ground, out of sight. Correcting his momentum was the first step, but there didn't seem to be any option other than to fall. No, there was something. A gap in the wall! His body turned and his legs kicked out at the opposite side and launched him towards the gap. His back hit and the stone crumbled, light flooding back as he propelled himself into an entirely different room, hitting the ground hard amid a shower of stone before he rolled to a stop.

"I miss the wolves," he groaned, resting a moment before getting back to his feet to examine his surroundings.

Unlike the hallway before, this one had clearly been carved from ceiling to floor with oddly fine precision, and the same strange crystal torches were present on the walls, casting things in that same eerie light. The only thing that looked out of place was a single wooden box placed in an alcove...with a sign nearby.

Ranma's eyes narrowed in suspicion. "See-len's treasure...and an arrow. Come on, how dumb do they think I am? This is the stupidest trap yet."

The question had been rhetorical, but to his surprise, something answered.

"Hey! I could have Selene's treasure in here! You don't know!"

"Did you just talk?" demanded Ranma.

The lid of the chest moved ever so slightly. "Um...chest noises? Treasure sounds?"

"Not buying it."

"W-well I still have some treasure in here! Really...really good treasure!"

"I'll take your word for it. Can you point me to Selene's treasure room?"

"It's right there on the sign!"

Ranma approached the box, watching as the lid shifted in anticipation. "Well? Are you going to hop out and ambush me or what?"

"Hop out? What kind of monster do you think I am?"

"So you _are_ a monster."

"I never said that, I just-hey! Put me down!"

The chest had been heavier than expected, but still easy for Ranma to handle. Keeping the opening faced away from him, he shook the box back and forth, then up and down for good measure. Only when the occupant seemed thoroughly dizzy did Ranma put it back down.

The lid burst open a second after. A black haired girl leaned over a teeth-lined edge, her cheeks green. "You jerk...ulp...what was that for?"

Ranma stared. Clearly this world hadn't finished surprising him with monster varieties. This one in particular was possibly the strangest yet, with an upper female body and a lower half that 'melted' into the chest and form a blue slime-like puddle.

"You were going to attack me," said Ranma flatly.

"I was not! I just wanted a meal!"

"And how were you going to get that?"

"By...not attacking you?"

"I don't believe you."

"It's because I'm a mimic, isn't it?"

"I don't even know what that is. And no, it's because you have a bloodthirsty aura I could sense for a mile."

"Alright, fine! Maybe I wanted to eat you a little bit! But you don't need both your arms, do you?"

Ranma's fist smacked against an open palm.

* * *

"So it's left, right, and then right again from here?" asked Ranma, giving the tightly bound box another shake.

"For the last time, yes! Now put me down already!"

"You realize you're getting hit first if we hit a trap, right?"

"I know, I know. I just forgot last time."

Carrying the box over his shoulder, the shirtless Ranma continued down the corridor, following her directions. The Enrikan cloth had proven quite effective as a makeshift binding for the mimic, even if it was likely to be a bit stretched later. Soon, the corridor opened up, the lights now brighter and reflecting off of a solid metal door.

"This looks promising." Ranma dropped the chest with a thud, untying the sleeves and reclaiming his shirt. "Alright, you can go now."

"Good riddance you jerk, I hope the foxes get you!" Slime seeped out of the edges of the box, slid underneath, and then promptly picked the box up and rolled away.

"What foxes?" But the mimic was long gone. Another cave-dweller perhaps? Putting those thoughts aside, Ranma approached the vault and tugged the handle. To his surprise, the door moved. "Huh...guess she never thought anyone would get this far."

Even as he said it, he was alert for traps. Yet the door opened, the lights flickered on, and the vault remained still. The only thing that moved inside was a cloud of dust, and hanging from a bright red ribbon at the back of the vault was a shiny golden bell.

"Is it really gonna be that easy?" Ranma muttered to himself as he stepped cautiously through the vault, reached toward it and delicately removed the bell from its resting place. "How the heck is this thing supposed to stand against a storm?"

Casually, Ranma tossed it into the air by the ribbon and let it fall into his palm—

FLASH!

He was underwater, yet he could breathe as easily as air. Before him a beautiful mermaid was weeping. Laura...the name came to him—

FLASH!

"They teamed up against me! I did everything I could!"

He was looking at a slime girl, but one far larger than Lime.

"But it wasn't just a fight, was it? I warned you—"

FLASH!

"I need your power. I need to destroy Alice."

"We will form a contract then. Reach out your hand and swear to me—"

FLASH!

Ranma was drifting. He could feel the air around him, yet it felt like he was suspended in water. This state. He recognized it.

"You who seek my power...what is your name?"

Ranma opened his mouth to respond, but no words came out. A sound like rushing water filled his ears, the serene state slipping away until suddenly—

"I got it! Tamamo is gonna promote me for sure!"

His hand was holding nothing but air. His eyes snapped to the owner of the voice and his fist moved, coming down on a head of silver hair while the other hand snatched away the bell.

"Owww! You meanie! I'm telling Nanabi!"

Finally his senses caught up to his instincts, but the small twin-tailed fox girl was already scampering away.

"Wait, I didn't mean to..." But she was gone. Warily, Ranma turned his eye back to the bell. The strange energy that had enveloped him before was still there, brimming beneath the surface. Any doubts he had about it being Poseidon's Bell were gone. Careful not to let it touch his skin, Ranma used the ribbon to guide it into his pocket. He was going to have to look at it later, preferably outside of the cave.

Aside from the bell, the rest of the vault was a far cry from the treasure cove it had been advertised as. A handful of coins lay scattered about with a few gemstones here and there, but nothing like what the scroll had promised. Still, something was better than nothing and Ranma quickly scooped up the lot and made his exit.

Someone was waiting for him.

"That's him! That's the guy who took the bell from me!"

The small twin-tailed fox was back, and she wasn't alone. Crouched beside her on four paws was a kitsune that dwarfed her in size and tails, with seven golden lengths fanned out behind her. Right at the waist the fox part melded into a female human body like a centaur...a very naked human body.

"Human, is this true?" the large kitsune demanded.

Ranma found his voice after a couple false starts. "She took it from me first!"

"You were just staring at it!"

"Enough, Nibi. Human, do you posses the bell?"

There was no point denying it. "I do."

"Then I cannot let you leave with it. Tamamo has tasked me with retrieving it." As if she already knew what his response was to be, Nanabi shifted her stance, her fox body tensing and her tails poised to block the passage behind her.

Ranma didn't disappoint. "Sorry, I got a ship to catch and this is my ticket."

"Nibi, leave us. It's best for you to stay out of the way," said Nanabi.

"You're gonna get it now!" cried Nibi, sticking out her tongue before she dashed back into the halls.

"Ranma Saotome, martial artist," he introduced. "And you must be Nanabi."

"Trusted third of Tamamo," Nanabi confirmed. "By her command, the Ilias Continent quarantine shall be maintained!"

With her declaration, Nanabi lunged forward. Her forepaw lashed out in a powerful swipe that tore up the ground where Ranma had stood just moments before. Her second strike was followed by a twist of her body and her tails kicked up a whirlwind of as they swept out at him.

Ranma leapt back and his hands blurred as the appendages reached out for him, meeting each with a fist and deflecting them in turn.

Another twist by Nanabi and Ranma was dealing with the front again, the foxtaur now using her bulk to try and knock him off his feet. While she wasn't faster than him, her size and the confined space made it difficult to dodge, and none of those fluffy tails lacked for power.

He could sense something else from the mythical woman, a familiar power that was similar yet different from the harpy queen and Granberia. Earth. Strong, sturdy, and as a couple punches proved, durable as hell.

 _Guess it's time to go to the Ryoga standby!_

Ranma waited for the next tail sweep before making his move, kicking off the narrow walls in and forcing Nanabi to work to keep track of him. The moment she looked ready to lunge again, Ranma struck first, channeling his momentum into a single powerful strike.

"Shooting Star Kick!"

The force of the blow delivered to her fox body sent her teetering onto her left two legs, briefly exposing her underbelly.

"Kachuu Tenshin Amaguriken!"

His rapid fire punches struck the exposed belly repeatedly in the same spot before she could regain her balance, and by the time she'd recovered, he was already back at the walls, rebounding twice and kicking at her other side to repeat the combo.

Nanabi growled, and dug her claws into the floor while her tails moved around her like a protective cocoon.

"Spirit Talisman: Earth!" she shouted.

The ground rumbled beneath Ranma's feet. He didn't wait to see how the attack would manifest and threw himself aside just in time to avoid a pillar of earth shooting skyward and slamming into the roof of the cave. More followed, bursting from the walls and the ceiling and Ranma twisted wildly to avoid them. He was rapidly running out of room though, and it looked like Nanabi had planned for that. Power was building and her tails were glowing, each of the tips pointed in his direction.

"Seven Moons: Moonlight Cannon!" cried Nanabi.

Bright light manifested from each of her tails, drawing power towards the center of her palms. With barely any room to dodge, Ranma tried to break through the wall of stone pillars at his side, just barely managing to avoid the energy blast as he forced his way through the earth. The second wave hit him head on, shattering the stone around him and sending him flying into the back wall.

Ranma willed himself to stand. The energy was still building, which meant another wave was coming. Likely another five, given the name of the technique.

"Moko Takabisha!" Ranma shouted.

The concentrated ball of confidence met the next attack and detonated in the center, and a second and third one clashed with the others. The explosions were causing the cave to shake, the earthen spires breaking apart further with each blast. Ranma was being pushed back. Whatever power she was drawing from was simply more vast than his own reserves of energy.

Maybe there was an out. His mind flashed to the technique Granberia had used in their fight. Had that state of mind been the key? Ranma's hand dived into his pocket, fingers wrapping around the bell. The soothing feeling enveloped him again, a calm overcoming him even as the next wave of energy raced towards him.

His fist opened, his palm went straight, and with a swift chop, Ranma severed the energy as it came. He didn't have time to celebrate or even think about what he'd done. His body was twisting, his single arm sweeping out and cutting through the next and the next. He barely registered the look of surprise on Nanabi's face as he came within arm's reach. Her tails swept out in an effort to strike him, but Ranma flowed around them and brought his hand across her midriff.

The resulting shockwave knocked Ranma off his feet. Nanabi got it worse, however, her entire body lifting from the ground and arcing through the air to land hard on her side.

"I yield!"

Ranma's fingers immediately released the bell at her shout and his body staggered slightly when the serene state slipped away, and left a dizzy feeling behind. "Ugh...sorry about that, I'm still getting a handle on that stuff."

Nanabi gave him a strange look, clearly limping as she worked her way back to her paws. "But...you executed the technique perfectly?"

"What technique? I was just dodging and-" A sudden rumble echoed through the cavern, dust and rocks falling from above while the ground below cracked and crumbled.

"I uh...don't suppose you could use your earth tricks to stop a cave in, can you?" asked Ranma nervously.

Nanabi looked panicked. "I...I need time to recover. I used all my energy in that attack. Maybe if you joined your mastery of earth with mine—"

"I don't have any earth mastery."

"But the final blow you struck..."

"That was a normal punch!"

"Then...punch the wall maybe?"

"How is that gonna help?"

"Spirit Talisman: Earth!"

Powerful energy rippled outward along the walls, ceiling, and soon the entire cave. The tremors instantly stopped, and the rocks around them shifted back into place while the earthen pillars crumbled.

"Nanabi, what did I tell you about using earth techniques inside caves?" Standing at the entrance to the vault was a third kitsune, only a little bit bigger than the two-tailed Nibi, though their size was where the similarities ended. Wearing a white kimono and holding a folded fan, this golden tailed kitsune looked poised and elegant rather than childish.

And she had nine tails instead of two.

Nanabi tried and failed to stand. "Lady Tamamo! My apologies, but this adventurer pushed me to my limit."

"Hey you started the fight," grumbled Ranma.

Tamamo waved Nanabi off as she approached him, her nose twitching. Her path took her in a small circle around his legs and she continued to sniff all the while.

"Are you...looking for something?" asked Ranma finally.

The inspection carried on for a few more moments before Tamamo finally spoke. "You're cute. Do you want to get married, or did Alice already claim you?"

Ranma let out an exasperated sigh. "No and no. I'm just here for the stupid bell."

"Oh, I understand. Granberia is getting in the way, isn't she?"

"Pretty sure she's only interested in beating me."

"That's like dating to dragons, you'll get used to it. Or you'll get routinely beaten until you get better. Kitsunes are much more reasonable, and far more fluffy." Tamamo swayed her tails in a wave like motion. Ranma had to admit, they did look very fluffy.

"Sorry, but I've already been engaged twice. Not looking to add a third."

Tamamo pouted at the news. "Fine, fine. Although..." The air in the room shifted as Tamamo opened her fan and hid her face. The playful demeanor evaporated. "I am going to need that bell before you go. I put this place under quarantine for a reason."

Ranma's breath caught in his throat. The energy Tamamo was giving off was inhumanly oppressive. "You really wanna cause another cave-in?"

"It'd be annoying but I'd survive," said Tamamo. "Still, it would be better for the monsters here if we didn't. So how about a contest instead? You knock me off my feet, I'll let you pass. Otherwise I get the bell. Deal?"

It was obviously a trap. Ranma could feel the power surrounding her similar to how Alice had shielded herself. Unfortunately, the alternatives were few and risky. His hand went into his pocket and drew the bell out by the ribbon. "I accept." With a flick of his wrist, he tossed the bell to Nanabi and drew his energy inward.

Tamamo didn't look like she was going to move and Ranma was happy to use that to his advantage, planting his feet and opening himself to the same energy the kitsune was drawing upon. He'd done it once before, he could do it again. The flow was sharp in his senses as though it were a living entity...but something was off. A dim spot was within the current.

"Are you going to use your full power?"

The sudden question seemed to catch Tamamo off guard. "You don't think I'm taking this seriously?"

"No...but there's like a seal around you...limiting you." Ranma's brow furrowed. "Can't really explain it."

Tamamo's fan snapped shut, her eyes showing amusement. "Oh you _are_ a keeper. What's your name?"

"Ranma Saotome, martial artist and apparently part time adventurer now."

"Well Ranma, I don't know how you sensed it, but this seal doesn't come off unless the fate of the world is at stake. Or there's a particularly cute male I wish to claim. You're getting close though."

Deciding it was better not to push the topic, Ranma returned his focus inward, drawing in as much energy as he could before he started to lose control over it. "I don't have a name for this yet, so get ready!"

Tamamo's stance didn't change, but Ranma was out of time. A cloud of dust accompanied his kick off the ground and his body flowed through the air on a direct course towards the kitsune. The first blow landed with the same earth-shattering impact he'd hit Nanabi with. He could hear Tamamo's feet sliding across the stone, but she stayed upright.

Ranma wasn't done. A second punch followed, then a third, the impacts starting to shake debris from the walls of the cave as he drew more and more power from the earth below. The serene state felt like it was overtaking him, his body almost moving independently of his mind, his strikes crashing like waves against a rock. Tamamo was being forced back and her balance wavered. He could feel just where to strike to—

POMF!

His mind jolted back to reality. His fist had been stopped cold, caught in the embrace of a soft tail.

"If I wasn't so sure Alice had her sights on you, I'd drag you back to Yamantai right here and now."

Ranma swallowed. He recognized that look. It was similar to the one Alice had shown back at the Sutherland Inn. His feet braced against the ground and he tugged back with his arm, but Tamamo was ready and sent him flying to the ground with a twist of her tail. "Ah ah ah, no more of that. Not unless you're trying to break every bone in your body."

More tails came forward, two for each arm and one more for each leg. "Nnh...I was just doing what you were-mmph!"

"Hush now," teased Tamamo, a tail wrapping around his neck like a fuzzy collar and then again around his mouth. "The difference between you and me is that I am a monster. As a human, using spiritual energy without the permission of the spirits...well, let's just say that you're lucky you were punching something as fluffy as me."

Her tails flexed, bringing his legs together for a moment before she pulled his pants clean off, his shirt soon following as the furry appendages pushed beneath his clothing. Ranma struggled, but the powerful high he'd felt moments before was fading fast, and the tails rubbing against his bare skin were relaxing his body, their warmth soothing him from his battle mindset.

With a small thump that briefly winded him, Tamamo straddled his stomach, her small hands pressing flat against his chest as she leaned over his face. "Now you listen carefully, Ranma. If you want to avoid being burned alive by that power you're tapping into, go find the spirits and make proper contracts with them. Understand?"

Ranma nodded as much as his tail collar would allow.

"Good. You're only going to be able to push yourself like that so many times before it takes a permanent price. Oft times a fatal one."

* * *

 _Lemon content removed per site policy. Look for this story under Archive of Our Own or Adult-Fanfiction for the cut content._

* * *

Tamamo let out a satisfied sigh as her tails absorbed his essence, leaving them just as soft and fluffy as when she'd started. "If Alice doesn't get her tail moving, mine will be ready for you," she murmured.

The tails relaxed and Tamamo rose, taking a moment to straighten her kimono. With a gesture, she beckoned Nanabi over, the seven tailed fox having been silent to the point that Ranma had entirely forgotten her presence until now. Holding out her hand, Tamamo let Nanabi drop the bell into her waiting palm.

"When you get back to the surface, given Alice a message for me, please?" Tamamo waited for his nod before she continued. "Tell her that she's the monster lord now. Her time will be better spent acting like it rather than tiptoeing around problems."

And with a final brush of her tail, Tamamo left, flanked by Nanabi, leaving Ranma alone to catch his breath and try to recover his energy and dignity.


	6. Chapter 6: Maelstrom

Fighting back Tamamo's energy was like pushing through wet cement. Every movement felt unnatural and forced, and it took some time before he could even properly put his clothes back on. He'd only just accomplished the feat when voices began to echo through the hallways.

"Ow! Ow! Quit it! I told you it was an accident!"

"And I told you you're lying."

That was Alice's voice, and Nibi's from the sound of it. Another soon joined, the mimic's.

"Why am I being dragged along?"

"Because I need something to throw this fox into if she gets her directions wrong again."

The small group soon emerged into the more open cavern. Alice was in the lead, dangling the small two-tailed fox in her hand by said tails, and behind her was Granberia, holding the mimic underneath her arm.

Alice sniffed at the air, frowned, and then looked to Ranma. "Smells like fox in here. And you look like you're about to tell me some bad news."

Ranma struggled to his feet. "Vault was mostly empty and Tamamo took the bell."

Granberia dropped the box with a hard thump. "Tamamo? Why would she get in our way?"

Alice's eyes closed for a moment as if she was lost in thought. "What else did she say?"

"She...said that you're the monster lord now. You need to start acting like it."

"Of course she would." Noticing Ranma's confusion, she continued. "Tamamo was my teacher before I took the throne, and she never wastes an opportunity to work in a lesson." With a flick of her wrist, Alice sent Nibi flying from her grip to smack against the mimic. "When Tamamo finds you again, tell her that I got the message."

The fox girl nodded rapidly before she scampered off while Alice's eye focused on the mimic. "I take it you're responsible for the empty vault?"

"I needed something to attract adventurers," came the muffled reply.

"And you went through the entire vault?" asked Granberia.

"I got hungry!"

With a roll of her eyes, Alice's tail smacked the side of the box. "Beat it. And find a new home. There's nothing left for you here." As the second captive fled, Alice turned her attention back to Ranma. "Can you walk?"

"In a couple minutes, sure." The fox's energy had mostly burned away by now, though traces of fatigue remained. "I'll find a counter for this soon."

Alice didn't reply. Instead, she merely waited while Ranma caught his breath and burned away the last of Tamamo's influence. Her unease was clear, but it didn't seem to have anything to do with theoretical ghosts anymore.

"Was the bell really that important?" he asked finally.

"No, it's not. I...apologize for pushing this on you. Tamamo was right. I need to deal with this myself. Alma Elma is my responsibility, not yours, and this quarantine is my responsibility too, even if I wasn't the one to put it in place."

Ranma didn't often receive apologies and it took him a few moments to even register that it had happened. "Hey, it's not that big a deal. I did accept her challenge, after all."

Alice's mouth briefly turned upward into a smile. "Maybe it won't be. I have a few ideas on how we might get across without some stupid trinket."

The journey back was mostly silent. Alice took the lead and Granberia watched him from behind, but it seemed like all the traps had been triggered. By the time they were back outside, Ranma's fatigue had all but vanished and hunger had set in. Fortunately, the grounds around the cave had been cleared for camping by adventurers past and it didn't take long to set up a fire pit and start a meal.

"So if ships weren't an option, how did you get here the first time?" asked Ranma.

Alice shrugged. "Flew."

"Flew?" Ranma repeated, trying to picture it in his mind. "How?"

"Through an arduous transformation and a lot of expended energy. It's not something I wish to repeat unless I have to."

Stirring the pot a couple times, Ranma turned to Granberia. "What about you? Did you fly too?"

"I'm not that sort of dragon," snapped Granberia. "I enlisted the help of mermaids. They were running a small transport service out of Port Natalia. One way though."

"Swimming could be an option."

"I can't," said Granberia flatly.

Alice blinked in surprise. "Really?"

"Never needed to learn. Erubetie always handled disputes in the water along with the four queens."

Ranma pondered the options as he served the food. It appeared the current choices were inconvenient or unfeasible in some way. Short of intercepting Alma directly, the quarantine seemed fairly impenetrable. Unless...

"That technique you used at the Sutherland Inn..."

Alice smirked. "Oh?"

Ranma choked and hastily clarified, "Not _that_ one! The one where you shielded the room! Just...do that to the entire ship?"

Alice looked thoughtful at the idea. "Hmm...that could work. Would give plenty of protection from a storm and shield it from the wind, too. We can charm a ship captain into letting us try."

"Why charm them? Just tell them you're the monster lord and you're lifting the blockade. Didn't Tamamo say you should stop sneaking around?" asked Ranma.

"She did," conceded Alice, "but that doesn't mean every situation calls for throwing my title around."

Granberia spoke up. "You could always throw your title of hero around."

Ranma rolled his eyes. "No one is going to buy that I'm a hero."

"Sutherland did," said Alice playfully. "And she seems the type to talk to everyone who crosses her path. I wager your tale has already made it to Port Ilias."

"Bet you a meal it hasn't."

Alice smiled. "I'll take that bet. And if we can't leverage your status, I'll see what I can do with mine.

* * *

Ranma was awake before Granberia nudged him this time. A small nod was all she needed to communicate her intentions and a couple minutes later they were sparring away from the campsite.

Despite Tamamo's warning, Ranma was finding it near impossible not to feel that serene state and utilize it. Even without pushing himself into the 'flow', parts of it were reflected in his movements when he dodged Granberia's strikes and delivered his own. Trying to shut it off felt like trying to dampen his own hearing.

"You ever fight with Tamamo?" asked Ranma during a lull.

"Once, during the fight for the throne. Her mastery over the earth was so great my sword couldn't even cut her tails." Granberia's stance relaxed, giving Ranma silent permission to continue his line of questioning.

"So, what did you do?"

"I trained my strength until my sword could cleave through mountains with ease. If we ever fight again, I will put that strength to use."

Ranma wasn't sure how much that was going to help. He'd punched through his share of boulders after all, and the most he'd done was make her slide around a bit.

"If you want my opinion, you should seek the spirits out." Granberia commented.

Ranma looked at her in confusion. "What about that whole 'noble purpose' thing?"

"Even if they do not make a contract with you, they might still decide to grant you insight into their power. As a martial artist, don't you wish to realize your full potential?"

"I do," said Ranma instantly. "But borrowing power from others doesn't really feel like my own potential."

"Hmph. What a ridiculous notion." Granberia's sword cut out in his direction. The blade narrowly missed his shoulder and severed the tree behind him as Ranma dodged.

His retaliatory kick knocked her sword arm upward. "What's wrong with that?"

"The idea that the spirits are some shortcut to power." Granberia's offense moved fast and the sweeps of her sword pushed Ranma towards the edge of their makeshift arena. "Their power is a tool you train with, just like I train with my blade."

Ranma wasn't certain they were entirely similar, but Granberia made a compelling point nonetheless. If monsters here were going to be using that power against him, maybe it was worth a visit if only to better understand them.

Weathering the assault for a bit longer, Ranma waited until the right moment. His hand then struck out to catch her wrist in a tight hold. His other fist swung, only to meet her open scaly palm and get grabbed in turn. Ranma used the stalemate to speak. "What's your stake in this anyways? Is this one of those dragon things?"

Granberia's eyes narrowed. "'Dragon things'?"

"Well Tamamo said that fighting was like dating to dragons and Alice-oof!"

The kick broke the stalemate and landed Ranma on his ass. "Absurd! I am a Heavenly Knight in service to the monster lord. I don't have time for those things."

"Do you have time to wake _me_ up for your morning sparring sessions, at least?"

Granberia tensed at Alice's voice, but avoided any overt show of surprise. "My lord, I-"

"Spare me the excuses," said Alice and slithered past Granberia. "Go start the campfire and get some water boiling. I'm not traveling without breakfast."

With a quick bow of her head, Granberia hurried off, leaving Ranma with Alice.

"Well? Don't tell me she tired you out already. Get on your feet and give me a workout. Don't worry, I'll make sure you can still cook by the end of this."

By the time Ranma was on his feet again, Alice was in her human form and ready to fight. In the back of his mind, however, Ranma couldn't help but think that maybe this 'sparing-as-dating' thing wasn't just limited to dragons.

* * *

"Welcome to Ilias Port, the only port on Ilias continent with no active ship traffic. Please tour our lovely empty shops, our taverns full of bored, drunken sailors, and our other places of little importance."

Ranma eyed the town greeter who hadn't even bothered to open his eyes as they approached. "What kind of greeting is that?"

"An honest one. They pay me to greet people They never said I had to like it."

"Do they let you sleep on the job, too?" asked Alice.

"I'm not sleeping, I'm conserving energy. Besides, if I don't open my eyes, I can't be disappointed by what I see."

"Whoever employs you is clearly paying you too much," muttered Alice as they left the man to his nap.

The greeter's depiction of the town was accurate. The market stalls were threadbare, only containing essential foods, and a lot of storefronts were closed. The port was equally devoid of traffic, with all of the ships docked and anchored with no cargo to be seen. Others looked like they'd recently been in fights, with broken masts, splintered decks, and oft times giant holes in the sides. The only boats that still seemed to be out on the water were small fishing vessels making a visible effort to stick close to land.

"All this for your protection?" asked Ranma.

"The last monster lord had some...problems with her reign. Relations with humans were strained while she was on the throne and a group of adventurers put an end to her rule."

The cold way in which she delivered that line made it clear to Ranma that she didn't want to speak further on the subject. He kept silent until Alice chose to speak again.

"Regardless of whether or not it was a mistake, I will end it. We just need to find a captain willing to risk their ship."

Ranma's head turned as he picked up the sounds of hammers and saws. Right near the end of the docks a group worked at cutting lumber and patching holes in one of the more badly damaged ships. "I'd start with them."

"That ship looks like it'll fall apart in a strong wind, never mind a storm."

"Yeah, but why bother fixing it up if they weren't going to try again?"

Finding the captain didn't take long, the working crew readily pointing them towards a gray haired sailor who, despite his age, was enthusiastically working alongside his crew to make repairs.

"If yer looking to set sail, it's gonna be some time. Damn monster did a number on us in the last attempt," said the captain without turning around.

"But you're going out again," confirmed Ranma.

"Aye. I'll be out on the sea soon enough. I've a wife and kid waiting for me in Natalia and I'll either get there or die trying."

"What if I told you I have a way across?"

"Then I'd either call you mad, or you're the hero Lady Sutherland told me about." The captain put aside his hammer and turned, fixing Ranma with a stern look. "Ranma Saotome?"

Alice smirked and Ranma inwardly groaned. Well, he'd definitely lost that bet.

The elderly captain looked as though he'd spent his life at sea. Tanned skin, a toned physique, and a short gray beard spoke of experience and skill. A patchwork of scars ran the length of his arms and a particularly vivid one curved across his cheek.

"Yeah, that's me," said Ranma. "And I might have a way across if you don't mind bringing monsters onto your boat."

Reaching a hand into the pouch at his side, the captain withdrew a pipe and clenched it between his teeth. "Is that a condition boy, or are they the ones gettin' us across?"

"Does it matter?"

"Not to me, but the crew might get a little jumpy," the captain explained. "A year ago, I might have too, but at this point I'd take a kraken's help if it'll get me across."

Ranma frowned. Alice's dark energy barriers weren't exactly subtle. "I'll need their help to get across and it's going to turn heads."

The captain's gaze turned from Ranma to Alice. "Show me."

Alice obliged and picked up a board. Her hand glowed briefly before the dark energy enveloped the plank. "This, except around the entirety of your ship."

Taking up his hammer, the captain grabbed the board and struck it hard. The barrier flashed but the wood didn't even dent. "Looks promising, lass. And it's a better plan than what I've come up with. What about the ship-destroyer?"

"That's what my friend is for," said Ranma. "She's a short red haired girl. Specializes in fighting monsters."

"Then the Cuttlefish will be at yer service. I'll talk the crew 'round one way or 'nother. It'll still be a few days work before she's seaworthy again."

Ranma smirked. "I think I could lend a hand with that."

* * *

Making one final adjustment to the line of nails, Ranma pulled his palm back and let fly with a series of strikes, pounding them in with one hit apiece and sealing the last hole in the starboard side. Above, the newly mended mast was being set in place, and furious hammering could be heard all around the ship. With the promise of a way across, the workers had been quite motivated, and while the patchwork job was unlikely to last, it had met the captain's approval for the journey to Port Natalia.

"So, where did you learn woodworking skills?" asked Alice from behind.

"I was forced to learn after the dojo I stayed at kept getting broken. Got bored with the work so I made a martial art out of it." Ranma paused a moment as he centered a piece of lumber and severed it with a quick chop of his hand. "Turns out I wasn't the first though. A group showed up later who were actual construction martial artists and declared me a rival school."

With a toss, Ranma sent the planks into the pile with the others. "It was probably the only fight I've been in where more property was built than destroyed. They weren't great fighters but they could build a small house around someone and trap them in ten seconds flat. Anyway, how did your thing go?"

Alice stared at him for several unblinking seconds before finally responding. "It went well, but there's a small problem we'll need to deal with first."

Recognizing the significance of the 'we' in that statement, Ranma whistled to get the captain's attention. "Hey cap, can you handle things from here?"

"We'll be ready by afternoon at this pace," came the reply. "Give yer lady attention if she needs it."

"Guess she's been spreading that rumor too," mumbled Ranma as he put his tools aside and followed Alice. "So what's going on? You can make the barrier, right?"

"Oh I can make it just fine," assured Alice as she led him through a few alleys and towards one of the larger two-story buildings away from the docks. "Maintaining it might be a problem though."

"Oh, I guess I didn't think of that. It'll be a few hours of travel."

Alice's path took him through the door and into a tavern then up the stairs. "My energy isn't unlimited. Even I need to recharge once in a while."

A small tingle began to form at the back of Ranma's neck. It was that same tingle he felt right before he was ambushed back in Nerima. "Where are we going?"

"Somewhere I can let my tail out." A flick of her wrist produced a key that opened one of the doors in the hall.

Ranma's tingle became a sinking feeling in his stomach when he saw the bed. "You need _that_ kind of energy?"

The door closed behind him with a click and Alice was soon out of her disguise, her tail stretched out along the floor and her torso now a few feet higher in the air. "Yes, I need _that_ kind of energy," she confirmed.

Ranma tensed, and waited for a barrier to spring up or for Alice to lunge. After a handful of seconds passed with no motion from her. "So...are you—"

"Planning to trap you in here? No. I thought I'd simply ask. Although if you'd prefer I chase you around the room first..." A smirk appeared on Alice's face as Ranma blushed. "It's either this or we use what little money we took from the treasure cave to buy a feast. You did lose our bet after all."

The need _seemed_ genuine, but Ranma wouldn't have put it past her to fabricate the problem. Of course, his night at the Sutherland Inn had shown how capable she was of merely taking what she wanted. Despite her asking...well, sort of asking permission, it felt like she'd trapped him with the logic of the situation just as if she'd used her coils. "Alright...fine. You can...take some energy."

Moving away from the door, Alice slowly slithered towards Ranma, and then once around to encircle him. "Are you going to take off your clothes or did you want me to do it?"

Ranma was tempted to say the latter. If anything, he was feeling far more tense and nervous now than when Alice had attacked him the first time. Still, his pride was strong and he huffed at her question. "I can do it."

His fingers fumbled at the task. The watchful eye of Alice made the feat far more difficult than it should have been. Even after he'd accomplished, Alice merely watched, seeming to take a moment to just admire his body.

"Just...do what you need to do," said Ranma finally.

The feeling of her tail caressing his back nearly made him jump, but it was only that, a caress. "We're in no hurry," she reminded him. "You can relax and enjoy yourself."

Even with her insistence, Ranma couldn't quite let go of his tension, yet Alice didn't strike. Instead she reached to the nearby table and picked up a familiar looking jar that had passed hit notice until now. The sight of it replaced his nervousness with indignation. "Hey! Did you go through my pack?"

For a response, Alice opened the jar and dipped a single finger inside. The golden honey shined briefly on the tip of her black glove before her forked tongue licked it off.

"You're just gonna eat that straight from the jar?"

The tail rubbing along his back curled slightly and pushed him closer to Alice as she dipped two fingers in. Again, her tongue slid over the digits until her lips were thoroughly sweetened, and now she pressed forward, that tongue effortlessly sliding into Ranma's open mouth.

Sweetness flooded his senses as Alice's tongue coiled around his own, trapping him and giving him a real taste of undiluted Happiness Honey combined with her own sweet taste. It was dizzying, though Alice's tail kept him steady as it continued to stroke along his bare back. Just when it felt like the kiss was going to steal all of his breath away, Alice released him, moving back just a bit. "Don't tell me you're going to just stand there and let me take advantage of you."

Ranma knew it was a trap and Alice's taunt was the bait, and yet he couldn't refute what she'd said, either. Later, he'll blame the honey, but in the moment Ranma stepped forward, his arms wrapping around Alice's waist before he initiated his own kiss, aggressively pushing his tongue against the monster lord's mouth.

Alice's tongue indulged his clumsy efforts as her coils closed in and her tail gave another push. She nudged his legs apart while her arms threaded around his waist. Suddenly, Ranma was straddling her coils with his feet dangling slightly on either side.

* * *

 _Lemon removed per site policy. Look for this story under Archive of Our Own or Adult-Fanfiction for the cut content._

* * *

The light coming through the window informed Ranma that he hadn't slept for long, but it felt like he'd been out of it far longer. Alice seemed to have napped as well, snugly entwined around his body with her head resting on his shoulder and an arm across his chest.

"Damn glutton," Ranma murmured to himself. She'd really put him through his paces this time, and even now the tip of her tail remained between his legs, as if preparing to strike again.

"It's only because you keep taunting me," came Alice's reply. "Comparing me to Tamamo like that, you were asking for it."

Silently, Ranma conceded the point. "Did you really need that much energy?"

"Maybe. Besides, this was a good opportunity to relax." She was definitely doing that much, not even opening her eyes as she responded to his questions.

Ranma resisted the urge to retort. He had, in essence, given her permission to do this after all. "I'm going to need to change before we go."

"No rush. Captain can't leave without us."

"Yeah, but how long until Granberia comes looking for you?"

"A little bit longer. I told her the gist of our plan."

"You're not...competing with her, are you?"

"I might be," said Alice lazily. "But you're trying to get back to your own world. There's no point committing to a competition if the prize is going to disappear."

"If I can even figure out a way back. I'm only vaguely sure of how I got here in the first place. Grangold is already feeling like a long shot."

"Do you miss your home?"

The question caught Ranma off guard. Did he miss things back home? Some things, sure. Kasumi's cooking, having a reliable place to sleep at night, and access to hot showers was definitely a plus, but at the same time, Nerima was a small blip compared to the majority of his life that had been spent in the wilds of China. If anything, this traveling lifestyle felt far more 'normal' to him.

"Dunno," he said finally. "Nice having challenges again. Back home, I was the only one who took my training seriously and I was kinda outpacing everyone else. Here it feels like I'm meeting some crazy new opponent every other day."

"I promise you there are more monsters in this world like Lime than there are Granberia. They're only on this continent because of me," reminded Alice. "Although you seem to have a talent for attracting them."

"I've been meaning to ask, why were you on this continent to begin with?"

Alice moved her coils, her arms folding across Ranma's chest as she rested on him. "I was here to fight Ilias. Once every year, on her 'birthday', Ilias comes down and blesses a hero and gives them a quest. Usually to kill the Monster Lord. In fact, it's almost always to kill the Monster Lord. This time, I intercepted her."

"And you...lost?"

"I got knocked out of the sky and she ran off! If she hadn't surprised me...anyways, I can only assume Tamamo caught wind of my plan and rushed here. Granberia probably wasn't far behind once she learned what I was doing."

"If Ilias hates you so much, why didn't she finish you off?"

"Probably too embarrassed about the black eye I gave her. She's incredibly vain."

Ranma doubted that was the whole story, but Alice was starting to uncurl from his body, a clear sign that the conversation was finished. Still, there was one more question on his mind. "Is Alma Elma gonna try and pick a fight?"

"I'll give you fifty-fifty odds. The only question is whether or not Granberia mouths off first."

* * *

"You're going in your female body?" asked Granberia. "Is it because Alma is a flying opponent?"

"We're on a ship, surrounded by water, sailing into a storm," deadpanned Ranma. "If I don't splash myself now, it'll happen when I'm not expecting it."

Bringing Granberia into Ilias Port had been easier than expected. Once it was clear that she hadn't come to conquer the port town, the guards were happy to give her a wide berth and keep a wary eye on her. Far more challenging was getting the sailors to board their newly refurbished ship.

"I ain't afraid of no storm, captain, but that ship just ain't right."

"That's a cursed ship if I ever saw one."

"Like it's about to be swallowed by blackness."

"Is that really supposed to protect us?"

Ranma couldn't blame them. Alice's barrier had enveloped the ship in dark energy and faint flashes of red rippled across the wood and the water below. The power was tangible in the air, making Ranma's senses tingle.

"If you lot don't get aboard, I'll be casting off without ye." The group parted as the captain walked past, not a trace of hesitance in his steps as he boarded the ship.

"But captain! Look at it! It's evil!"

"It's my way across and I'll be taking it."

And that was the end of the argument. The first mate soon followed, the rest of the crew hesitantly shuffling behind as it became clear the captain wasn't going to burst into flame upon contact with the deck.

Alice waited for them on board. Visibly, it didn't seem like the effort of maintaining such an elaborate barrier was bothering her. With nothing to do but wait, Ranma found a place out of the way of the sailors and observed Alice's maintenance of the barrier.

Granberia joined her a moment later, prompting a question from Ranma. "So Alma is the wind knight, right? Is she better or worse than the Harpy Queen?"

"Much better," said Granberia without hesitation. "She embodies the element. Fast, unburdened by responsibility, free from doubts or worry, and playful. It's a wonder she even let herself be tied down with a task like this, given her lack of commitment to anything. When she took part in the fight for the throne, she was the first one to yield."

"Why would she fight for the throne at all if she's as lazy as you say?"

Granberia shrugged. "She never said. But you'll get a chance to ask her directly soon."

Dark clouds started to roll in from above, their movements clearly unnatural and spurred along by something above. The gale-force winds came soon after, pushing the storm right on top of the ship.

Rain washed over the deck and wind battered the sails, but the ship itself barely listed, Alice's barrier held strong and glowed brightly against the building maelstrom. The power that had been on the edge of Ranma's senses seemed to focus on the ship itself. The waves crested onto the deck, but the ship barely even rocked under the force. All the while, Alice kept her head turned towards the sky, the rain only seeming to briefly land on her body before it slid off.

"Here she comes," murmured Granberia.

A lone figure broke through the clouds, the wind shifting to propel the form through the air. Large pink wings extended to either side as it neared the ship with the rain halting abruptly as Alma Elma slowly descended to the deck.

The succubus knight was exactly what Ranma was expecting, yet still a bit strange. Her body was enticingly curvy with full breasts, a shapely rear, and long purple hair that fell far past her waist. In a sense, it was almost like he was looking at a grown up version of Shampoo, albeit one who had added large wings, pointed horns, and a tail to her body.

Her tail in particular was one of the strangest features, as thick as a limb and tipped not with a spade, but a strange sort of flower shape. Her pose was relaxed and her expression playful, yet she gave off the same vibe as the combat ready Granberia, and much like the dragon swordsman, a cape covered her back, even as her body was barely covered by a tight fitting bustier that barely held her chest.

"Well this is a surprise! The monster lord and Beri-chan traveling together. Was there a monster revolt I wasn't invited to?" Her voice had an alluring quality with the tone light and playful while suggesting a hidden promise. "My deepest apologies for attacking your ship, my lord. I shall part the storm immediately."

"You're going to do more than that," said Alice flatly. "You're going to find Leviathan and tell her that the blockade is no longer necessary. It's purpose has been served."

"Ooh, does that mean we're letting adventurers cross again? It's been ages since I got to play with one!"

"Something tells me you didn't go hungry. Well, what are you waiting for?"

Alma pouted. "Can't I at least say hello to Beri-chan? It's been ages since I've seen her."

"It's been a few months at most," retorted Granberia. "But fine. Hello. Now go do your job."

"Always so serious! And here I thought all our matches would have helped you relax around me."

Granberia's expression darkened. "Lord Alice, may I-"

"Absolutely not. No fighting on this ship," said Alice firmly.

For the first time since she'd arrived, Alma's gaze turned in Ranma's direction. "What about the hero? Can I fight her?"

Ranma had been getting used to seeing predatory monster gazes, but Alma was in a league of her own. There was a trace of that familiar charm magic that Alice had used, but her sheer presence seemed to communicate without words all the things she would do to someone she 'caught'.

The effect was potent enough that Ranma's body faltered for a moment, but she quickly brought her aura to bear and pushed away Alma's influence. "You're gonna have to keep looking, I'm not a hero."

Alma's expression didn't change but it felt like she was gazing far more intently at Ranma now. "Hmm...no, I'd say you're a martial artist."

Ranma couldn't quite hide her surprise as Alma continued talking. "Precision ki control, internally focused aura, no weapon but not threatened by my presence, and Beri-chan isn't completely ignoring you. Well? How about it? I could show you a technique or two."

"Alma, repeat to me the first edict I made as monster lord," said Alice sharply.

Alma's playful expression fell slightly. "Only in self defense are you allowed to do harm...but there's nothing wrong with a sparring match, is there?"

"Did I not just tell you to relieve Leviathan of duty? Why are you still wasting time here? Honestly, between you and Granberia, I'm starting to think my knights have forgotten I'm the Monster Lord."

With a sigh, Alma turned and slowly bowed in Alice's direction. "As you command, my lord. I apologize."

"Hey Alice, can I spar with her?"

Poised to take flight, Alma paused at Ranma's query. "Really?"

The question was echoed by Granberia, who continued, "If you're expecting a serious fight from her, you're going to be disappointed."

"She says she wants to spar. I'm not in the habit of refusing challenges."

Alice's eyes narrowed before she shook her head. "Don't do anything to break the boat. Otherwise I'm revoking your Grand Noah vacation."

Alma wasn't phased by the threat and smiled brightly at Alice. "I'll behave myself."

"First time for everything," retorted Granberia as she glanced at Ranma. "The only techniques you're going to see are succubus ones."

"We'll see," said Ranma vaguely as she stepped forward. The ship's deck didn't provide a whole lot of room for a fight even after the sailors began to clear the way for them. Alma didn't seem bothered by that, however, practically strutting forward and not trying to hide her eagerness.

"Now, what's the name of the one who has Beri-chan so enthralled? Honestly, is it the red hair, or have I always just been too tall for you?"

The last part was directed at the increasingly irritated Granberia but Ranma answered first. "Ranma Saotome of the Anything Goes school of martial arts."

" _Anything_ , Ranma-chan? What a boldly named school. This is going to be fun!"

Ranma did her best to keep the teasing from getting to her and focused instead on the succubus herself. Casual and relaxed, but alert. It was a style she was all too familiar with given how often she'd used it herself.

The first series of blows came out faster than the eye could track, Ranma taking the initiative and leading in with a very particular style, feinting several times in quick succession before even one of her blows threatened to land. Alma's stance broke, the succubus' smile vanishing as she shifted and gave appropriate space to the feints, reacting on instinct as the real blows came and were blocked by her forearms.

Alma's counter came exactly where Ranma expected it, and she was ready, her palm meeting the succubus' fist with a loud smack. "So what school do you practice?" asked Ranma casually. "Takes a martial artist to know one."

"Me? I don't practice anything," said Alma, her smile sliding back into place as her wings spread out. Wind gathered at her back and with a hard flap all that energy was channeled straight towards Ranma, blowing her off her feet. A flip and a leap off the deck helped her recover, but Alma was already on her, propelled forward by her wings and the wind both.

Arms locked with hers and Ranma found herself pinned against the cabin. Alma's chest pressed against her own and a thigh pushed between her legs, raising her slightly off the ground. "The only thing I ever practice is being a succubus, and I'm _very_ good at it."

Ranma didn't doubt the statement but she didn't buy the ignorance either. Wrenching an arm free, her palm struck down hard on Alma's knee and the moment her feet touched the ground, she flipped over the succubus' head and narrowly avoided a swipe from her tail. When Alma turned, it was accompanied by another sweep of her wing, the gust sending Ranma off balance before she struck out.

Just like the Harpy Queen before her, Alma's movements flowed with the wind. Unlike Lucretia though, she was blindingly fast and used all of her limbs to fight. Her purple wings were tough, easily guarding blows, and her tail often grabbed at Ranma whenever she tried to flank. She was already leaning into the Soul of Ice technique to try and resist Alma's teasing, but when blows slipped through, they were more sensual caresses across the body and playful gropes, aimed at putting Ranma off balance.

It was working. Even without her aura of sheer sex appeal, Alma seemed to know exactly where to touch and squeeze for the most pronounced effect. Combined with the way she flaunted her body as she fought, and the subtle charm magic that probed at Ranma every time their eyes met, the battle was coming down to a test of willpower rather than speed or strength.

Ranma needed some way to turn this back into a martial arts fight. Alma's style was familiar, but modified to make use of her wings and tail. Her body was mostly human though, which meant some fundamentals had to be the same.

"Kachuu Tenshin Amaguriken!" Ranma yelled.

The flurry briefly put Alma on the back foot, but Ranma was more interested in how they blocked and moved, feeling for the flow, and finally something clicked. Ranma's arm shifted and her hands went from fists to fingers, a precise strike knocked away Alma's arm and arced right towards her neck.

Alma Elma moved on instinct, her open palm intercepting the elbow and deflecting the strike, and Ranma's follow up was met with an open palm.

Ranma smirked and pushed the attack, leaning hard into Alma's own style as everything turned into a dizzying mixture of attacks and counter-attacks, too fast to think about but not too fast to react to. Ranma pushed her speed hard, barely even noticing as the wind shifted around her as she waited for a particular opening, and made her strike.

Alma dodged, but only barely, her wings snapped out to propel her backwards from the blow. Ranma didn't chase, taking the chance to catch her breath. "Modified Serpent style. Took me a bit to recognize."

"Hmph. That's playing dirty, making me fall back into bad habits like that, Ranma-chan. We succubi have an image to maintain."

Ranma raised an eyebrow. "What's wrong with a succubus knowing martial arts?"

"We provide pleasure, not pain, and I think it's time I showed you how a succubus really fights."

Behind her, Ranma could distinctly hear Granberia's sigh along with a muttered, "And here we go."

Alma's hand came up to her cape, and with a tug at the clasp, the piece of clothing fell to the ground. It was the first of several as buttons were undone and straps were pulled free. By the time Alma was finished, only her arm gloves and leggings remained. "Always the more natural way to fight."

Ranma vehemently disagreed, and yet she could feel Alma's power with the wind growing steadily as she prepared for the next bout. To say that the sight of the curvy succubus' near naked body wasn't distracting would have been a terrific lie, too. Not that she didn't try. "If you think a pair of tits is gonna distract me, just try it. I've got your technique all figured out."

Alma grinned, her tail swaying side to side behind her, and then-

 **CRASH!**

The boat listed onto its side, a wave crashing into the wood and briefly tipped the deck at a sharp angle.

"Hero of Ilias your time has come!" A deep feminine voice pierced the air like thunder followed by a waterspout that soared into the air before something emerged and crashed onto the deck. The sea creature was enormous, and pushed everyone else to the edges of the ship as she filled it with her presence. Ranma had a second to take in the blue serpentine body and the golden trident in her grasp before she charged.

With no room to dodge and no time to jump high enough, Ranma could only brace herself, avoiding the thrust of the weapon and taking the powerful blow. The force sent her over the edge of the ship and right before she hit the water, Alice's voice rang out. "Leviathan! Stand down!"

The call went unheard by the sea serpent as she dived after Ranma. Twisting to face her, Ranma grabbed the prongs of the thrusting trident and held tight, the momentum carrying down to the depths as she stopped the fork from piercing her chest. The pressure of the water rapidly increased, the light from above faded, and the bottom of the ship soon disappeared from view.

Ranma's mind raced as the pressure built, but all the options she came up with were bad ones. Size, strength, and mobility were all against her here, and air was becoming precious. With a titanic effort, Ranma twisted her body and let go of the trident, just managing to get out of the way and avoid being smacked by the serpent's tail.

Leviathan was already turning, and the motion of her tail left a powerful current in her wake. The golden trident flashed against the few rays of light that managed to pierce the surface as she rounded for another attack.

Panic ate at Ranma, but she fought it back. The serene state was easier than ever to call upon here in the water, the presence of Leviathan like a giant wave of bloodlust racing towards her.

Tamamo's warning nagged at the back of her mind, but there were no other options now. Her hands thrust out, and her palms gathered the energy of the water around her. She mixed it with her willpower, and with an explosion of bubbles, Ranma released the blast, sending it crashing into Leviathan.

The charge was halted, and the great serpent recoiled in surprise. However, it only stalled her for a moment and Leviathan was already starting to shake off the damage.

Ranma's body went limp. That strike had taken a lot out of her and she was helpless under Leviathan's second charge.

Something then flashed in the corner of Ranma's eye. A pink blur arcing into the water, and cutting through it like a shark before it slammed into Leviathan, sending her wildly off course. Ranma twisted and pushed at the water, trying to get a look at the conflict taking place, but fatigue was overtaking her and the lack of air was catching up.

As the muted sounds of Alma and Leviathan's fight grew faint, consciousness began to slip away, and soon darkness claimed her.


	7. Chapter 7: The Southern Sea

"Breathe. Gently now."

The soft, feminine voice pierced the edge of Ranma's consciousness. Her senses that had been smothered in the water came flooding back, and with a start she jerked awake. The water was still around her with the surface nowhere to be seen. Reflexively, she held her breath and prepared to swim upward, only for a hand on her shoulder to give her pause.

"Relax, you're okay now."

Contrary to what the voice said, Ranma didn't feel okay. For one, she was still submerged in water, and yet as she breathed in, the water faded, and left only air in her lungs. Slowly, Ranma tried a deep breath through her nose. Despite smelling potently of the sea, it was as natural as taking a breath of air.

"See? You're going to be just fine."

"Thank…thank you," said Ranma, speaking slowly. Her voice was distorted, but it still managed to reach her ears like normal speech. Confident that she was no longer going to drown, Ranma began to move. Whatever was allowing sound and oxygen to travel to her didn't stop her from swimming, and she faced her rescuer.

There were many monsters Ranma didn't have a name for, but the one floating in front of her now was unquestionably a mermaid. With a purple fish tail and the upper body of a human, her species was unmistakable. This one in particular held a motherly beauty to her, reflected in a shapely figure, long silvery hair, and a near see-through top that swayed in the currents of the water.

"How am I breathing?"

The mermaid smiled and reached a hand forward, lightly grasping something fastened around Ranma's neck. "This is a mystical item among my kind called the Ball of Guidance. With it, anyone can breathe underwater. I'd brought it with me for my husband to use, but sadly he couldn't make it."

"I'm...sorry to hear."

"Oh don't be," said the mermaid with a laugh like rushing water. "It's rather fortunate I decided to travel anyways. How did you manage to end up so far below the sea?"

"Got attacked by a giant sea serpent. Leviathan, I think. It threw me overboard and tried to run me through. What about you?"

"Oh, I was just traveling to the Southern Sea Palace to get married," the mermaid explained. "Or at least deliver our pledge of marriage. In truth, I'm a bit nervous to be doing this alone, but I'm happy I did. We should get you back to the surface as soon as possible."

Ranma frowned at that. Her reflexive desire to repay the favor was nagging at the corner of her mind. Maybe she could help out here, and it wasn't as though Alice needed her around. "Hey um...look, what's your name?"

"Meia."

"That's a nice name… err... maybe I can come with you and help? Least I could do for you after you saved me," offered Ranma. "I'm not really injured or anything."

Meia's eyes lit up. "Oh! Are you one of those adventurers I've heard so much about? I'd thought I'd pay one to help me, but I didn't have much to offer and most of them don't like working for monsters."

Ranma sighed internally. Well, if the world was going to conspire to put her into this niche, she might as well own it. "Yeah...I'm an adventurer and I don't mind taking jobs from monsters. Honest."

Meia's smile seemed to brighten the ocean itself. "That's wonderful! But will you be alright down here? We could be attacked by monsters along the way."

In response, Ranma stretched out her arm and channeled her ki. The technique she'd come up with on the fly earlier came to her a lot easier now. The resulting blast illuminated the dark ocean and detonated with enough force to create a brief bubble of air.

"I'm still thinking of a name for it. What do you think of Shark Fist or Water Bullet?"

Meia giggled. "I think I'm feeling safer already. Thank you, miss…?"

"Ranma Saotome. So, where are we headed?"

"Near the bottom of the sea to meet with Queen Kraken," Meia explained.

"You need a queen's permission to get married?"

"Well it's more tradition than necessity, but there's just something comforting about your marriage getting a powerful queen's blessing," Meia admitted bashfully. With a flick of her tail, she led the way further into the depths of the sea and Ranma followed close behind.

"Is your husband from port Natalia?"

Meia nodded. "He is."

"Isn't he going to get in trouble with the Church of Ilias for this?"

"Well...the church won't officially recognize us, but mermaids are all over Natalia. We're too vital to their economy, so even those who don't like us at least tolerate our presence. Other monsters...not as much."

That probably made it all the more important that at least _someone_ recognized their marriage, concluded Ranma silently. "Well, hope it works out for you."

Meia graced him with another bright smile. "Thank you Ranma, I'm certain it will."

The journey continued in a companionable silence. Around them, Ranma could sense a few monsters taking a mild interest in them, but none seemed bold enough to approach. Maybe they didn't like the idea of attacking a pair, or perhaps they could sense her strength. Either way, Ranma was grateful for the reprieve. Her energy was recovering at a steady rate, but dealing with Alice, Alma, and Leviathan in succession had been draining.

"How likely is it to be attacked down here?" asked Ranma.

"It's not particularly risky. The monsters here vastly prefer human males, but some of the less-intelligent predators might try to eat a mermaid."

Ranma's eyes narrowed, focusing on a point down in the depths. "Any in particular we should watch out for?"

"Well, the sea anemones can be aggressive, but the only real dangers here are-"

"Jellyfish?"

"Yes, how did you know?"

Ranma's body tensed as she gathered her energy. "Cause I think one of those girls is attacking someone right now."

With a surge of ki, Ranma cut through the water. Faint cries for help rapidly grew louder as the distance shortened. A mermaid, younger than Meia, was wrapped up in a jellyfish monster girl's tendrils.

"Shark Fist!"

The water infused blast hit the jellyfish girl hard and Ranma followed with a quick, decisive flurry of ki-infused water-blows.

The tentacles around the younger mermaid hurriedly withdrew and crossed in an effort to defend against Ranma's onslaught. Another well-timed ki-blast struck the jellyfish's head and sent her spinning into the depths of the sea.

Once she was certain the jellyfish girl wasn't coming back, Ranma allowed herself to relax. "Ehh...I think I'll stick with Moko Takabisha."

"S-stay back! I'm warning you!"

Compared to Meia, this new mermaid was clearly a child. Much like the other child monsters Ranma had encountered they still had a certain beauty, with an eye-catching purple and blue tail that matched her short, two-toned hair and the fins on either side of her head.

All of this was complemented with fair, flawless skin that seemed to be the norm for monsters rather than the exception, and the mermaid's bright blue eyes uniquely contrasted the softer colors of her hair and tail.

"The heck's wrong with you? Did you want to get eaten or something?" snapped Ranma.

"You're a human! You'll just eat me instead!" insisted the young mermaid.

"You haven't met a lot of humans, have you?"

"Well...no, but I've heard the stories!"

"Well they're wrong. I don't eat mermaids. Or anything that can talk to me for that matter."

"Then you're here to kidnap and ransom me!"

Ranma fought the urge to groan. "No, I'm not. I have no idea who you are. I saw you were in trouble so I came to help. That's it."

The mermaid sniffed and looked as though she were on the verge of tears. "You...you promise?"

"I promise. Martial artist's honor. Heck, you're only the second mermaid I've ever seen."

"The second?"

"Oh my, who's this adorable girl?" Meia had finally caught up. "These parts of the seas are dangerous for children. Why are you so far away from the village?"

"Uwahh! We're not supposed to talk about that in front of humans!"

"It's okay sweetie, Ranma here is very trustworthy. She's my bodyguard." Meia winked in Ranma's direction.

"But… mom also said that you couldn't trust mermaids from Port Natalia either..." There was clear hesitance in the young mermaid's voice when she said that.

Understanding dawned on Meia's face. "I see. You're Laura's daughter, Elle, aren't you?"

Elle looked surprised for a brief moment but quickly masked it. "That's right! And if you do anything to me, my mom will-"

"Why don't we take you back to your mother then?" suggested Meia.

"I...I can't. I need to go see Kraken. I can't go home until I do."

Meia smiled. "Oh, are you getting married and don't want your mom to find out? How romantic!"

"No! Why would you...I'm not! It's a personal reason!" protested Elle, vehemently.

"Why don't you come with us then?" offered Ranma. "We're headed that way ourselves."

"But...if mom saw you she might get the wrong idea."

"You just let me worry about Laura," said Meia gently. "And Ranma here will take care of anything else that tries to attack us."

Elle still seemed hesitant. "Are you sure the human's not going to try and eat us?"

Ranma's eye twitched but Meia answered before she could. "Absolutely. I trust her with my life."

Finally the tension in Elle's body deflated. "Okay, I'll trust you then."

"Glad to have you along, Elle," said Meia, happily.

Despite her declaration of trust, Elle still swam some distance back from Meia and Ranma. Fortunately, their small group seemed to deter the remaining predators in the area.

"Guessing her mom ain't a big fan of humans, is she?" asked Ranma after a bit of silence.

Meia's mood wilted. "The current mermaid queen was alive back when relations with Port Natalia weren't so friendly."

Ranma quickly put the pieces together. "Elle's a princess?"

Meia nodded. "Long ago, Laura found a sickly man on the beaches near Port Natalia. Taking pity on him, she nursed him back to health using her blood."

"Her what?!"

"Her blood," continued Meia calmly. "A powerful mermaid's blood can cure almost any disease or injury when willingly given. He recovered, and over time the two fell in love. However, when the people of Port Natalia found out, he was imprisoned and they formed a group to hunt Laura down."

"So she was forced to leave him to his disease?" asked Ranma.

"Not quite. She intended to surrender herself to the church and be executed in the most bloody way possible so her lover could have enough blood to last the rest of his life."

Ranma glanced sidelong at Elle. It was subtle, but Elle had moved closer as Meia was speaking. The younger mermaid was trying to listen in while trying very hard to make it seem like she wasn't listening in.

"Guessing they didn't succeed," remarked Ranma dryly.

"When Laura's lover learned of what was to be done, he took his own life instead. Since that day, Laura's hatred for humans has only festered and grown, even though nowadays mermaids are everywhere in Port Natalia."

"How long ago was this?"

Meia sighed. "Almost three generations past now. The mermaids living in Natalia hope that someday the queen might make peace with what happened, but it doesn't seem likely."

Another bloody generational mess it seemed, and Ranma had doubts that many of the humans bothered listening to the 'willingly given' part of the mermaid blood thing. Still, it seemed some progress was being made despite the tragedy and Ilias' laws.

Something Meia had said nagged at Ranma. "Wait, you said this was three generations ago? Do mermaids age super slow or something?" She took a speculative glance at Elle.

Meia's gaze followed Ranma's and she smiled. "Very slow. Elle is probably two-hundred years old now."

"What? Am not! I just reached adulthood!" Remembering too late that she had been pretending not to hear, Elle fell silent, flustered.

"I jest," said Meia playfully. "Powerful monsters like the queen mermaid can preserve the essence of their lovers for long stretches of time inside their bodies."

Ranma took a moment to digest that tidbit of information. "Yeah, that's even weirder."

Elle's expression had become more melancholy after her outburst and Ranma slowed down to swim shoulder to shoulder with her.

"That the first time you heard that story?" asked Ranma.

"Mom never talked about dad. Or any of the other humans up above. She just said it was a mistake to ever trust them," she murmured.

"You don't sound like you really believe that," said Ranma.

"Well...you don't seem like the worst person ever."

Ranma's eyes narrowed. "And you don't seem like an adult."

"I told you, I'm an adult—"

"-by monster standards. Yeah, I've heard that line before. Doesn't make it true."

"You're not that much bigger than me!"

"I'm bigger where it counts."

"Grrr! Why you—"

"We're here!" interrupted Meia cheerfully. She gestured towards an underwater castle. It was oddly 'human' in design, but much of the structure had been carved out of the natural formations in the sea, with carefully cultivated coral giving the place a bright, colorful look.

"So, do we just go inside?" asked Ranma while she looked about for some sort of guard or sentry.

"The mermaids told me that we can drop in whenever is convenient for us," assured Meia. "Truthfully, I think the queen of the sea gets lonely."

That would explain the oddity of a queen performing marriages. "What sorts of things does she usually handle?" Ranma asked.

"Disputes between other queens, mostly, but conflicts between the sea races are somewhat rare. There's a lot of space in the ocean and plentiful amounts of food. The Church of Ilias doesn't bother us much, given how difficult it is for a human to get here."

Ranma frowned and turned to Elle. The young mermaid had fallen silent as they'd approached the coral gardens around the castle. "You're here to talk about your mom, aren't you? Nah, don't say anything, it's your business. You're not in danger, are you?"

Meekly, Elle shook her head.

"But Port Natalia is?" ventured Meia softly.

A nod this time.

Ranma chuckled. "Maybe you're more of an adult than I thought."

The rest of the journey was taken in silence while the trio navigated softly illuminated hallways. The design of the castle was open and spacious, allowing for creatures easily three or four times their size to travel from room to room, and no closed doors stood in their way.

Ranma sensed the queen's presence long before she saw her, a powerful aura encompassing most of the castle. When they finally entered the throne room, the sight of her didn't disappoint.

Even counting the enormous sea serpent that had attacked Ranma on the Cuttlefish, the squid-like woman in front of her was the largest monster Ranma had ever seen. A legion of suckered tentacles were spread around the throne room, steadily growing in thickness until they met at the base of the queen's body and transitioned into a naked, humanoid figure. In place of hair was a squid head and several more sucker lined tentacles that fell down around her neck and shoulders like prehensile braids.

"Travelers, I bid thee welcome to the castle of the Southern Sea," greeted the queen.

Meia took the lead and Ranma followed, approaching to a certain point and bowing respectfully. "We thank you for giving us your time and attention. I am here today to deliver a pledge of marriage."

"How wonderful to hear. And what are your names?" asked Kraken.

"I am Meia, hailing from Port Natalia."

"Princess Elle, from Tempest."

"Ranma Saotome...from Port Ilias, I guess."

One of Kraken's many tentacles approached Meia and took the offered pledge from her. There was a momentary pause as she read it through. "Very well then. By my authority as ruler of the Southern Seas, I hereby declare that Elle the mermaid and Ranma Saotome the human shall be married from this day forward."

"What?!" Ranma and Elle spoke in unison, but Kraken was already moving ahead, heedless to their surprise.

"Whether on sea or on land, you shall forever be as one. Now take this ring as a symbol of your lasting bond."

Wordlessly, Elle let her palm get turned upward by a tentacle before a bright coral ring was dropped into her her hand.

Ranma, however, had plenty of words. "Now hold on a sec, you can't just marry us like that!"

"Why not? This contract clearly states the formalized union between a human and a mermaid."

"Yeah, but not _this_ human!" said Ranma, pointing a thumb at herself.

Kraken gave Ranma a confused look. "But there aren't any other humans here."

Ranma's was ready for an argument, but Meia's voice cut through to diffuse her annoyance. "Um, miss Kraken? Could you please read the contract again? Carefully this time?"

Frowning, Kraken returned to the scroll, but didn't get far before a new voice cut through the water like an icy knife. "What poisoned words have you been feeding my daughter, human?!"

Even before Ranma could turn and put a face to the voice, she knew exactly who it was. The very laws of the universe dictated that the worst possible being would always catch her in the most embarrassing and 'problematic' situations. A voice filled with that much rage could only belong to a disapproving mother.

Taking a deep breath, Ranma slowly turned and tried for the long-shot that never seemed to work in these situations. "Would you believe that this is all just a misunderstanding?"

It was striking how different Laura looked compared to Elle and Meia. Her skin was pale blue, and light, while almost colorless hair framed her cold blue eyes and murderous stare. Side by side, it seemed like Elle had taken all the energy from the older mermaid, and the only similarity between them were their matching dolphin tails.

"Are you implying that you did not just marry my daughter?"

Kraken answered before Ranma could. "No, that most certainly did happen. I gave her the pledge ring and accepted their certificate of marriage."

"Um...Meia? Little help please?" asked Ranma, shivering as she felt the water temperature drop.

"My queen, it's true that she married them but—"

That was all Laura needed to hear. "Die, human."

The cooling temperatures hadn't been Ranma's imagination. Solid spikes of ice began to crystallize around Laura, and with a gesture of her hand, they were sent shooting towards her.

The ice spikes were not impeded by the water and the sheer force behind them cut straight through the stone pillars and walls of the castle. The smallest nicks by those lethally sharp points effortlessly tore Ranma's clothing, but it was only the start of the mermaid queen's assault.

Ice grew across Laura's arm and a wicked blade formed out of it. A moment later her powerful tail churned the water and she closed the distance in an instant..

"Mom, stop!" Ellie's shout went unheard as Laura slashed.

Cuts started to open up in Ranma's Enrikan shirt as her frantic dodging worked only so well underwater. Laura's bloodlust was plain and her attacks were blatantly telegraphed, but her better mobility was a powerful advantage, and much like how Alma had used the wind, Laura was directing the water to push her in the directions she wanted to move.

Well, perhaps Ranma could play that game too. Connecting to the 'flow' was easier than ever down here, even more so when someone else was using it right next to her.

The world around Ranma faded, and her senses cut out all the distractions save for the queen mermaid and the currents around her. When the blade came in again, Ranma moved, her limbs pushing through the water almost easier than air, fingers extending and pressing against specific points when the blade passed by. When the queen stabbed in again, Ranma met it with her palm, and shattered it.

If the queen was surprised she didn't show it. Her tail immediately came around to strike. Ranma's push off the ground sent her much further back than she'd been expecting, but it was just the right distance for her to unleash a Moko Takabisha and break apart the ice spikes the queen sent after her.

"You think you can challenge me in the depths of the sea? Your life hangs at the mercy of a mere trinket!"

The Ball of Guidance, Ranma realized. Her hand wrapped tight around it, a swell of her own energy reinforcing it right before the queen's power battered the magic around her, and collapsed the air bubble into nothingness. For a moment it felt like the entire weight of the sea was bearing down on her, but she pushed back, relieving the pressure bit by bit.

"Laura, enough!" The shout from the Kraken Queen vibrated the water around her. Blue lines formed on the ground, and joined into a pentagram shape. The moment the diagram finished, the mermaid's power cut off abruptly, leaving Ranma free of its influence. All at once, Ranma could tell that she was being shielded by an immensely powerful barrier. Another had formed around Laura, and kept her from attacking further.

"Queen Laura, you are entitled to your family disputes, but you are in _my_ castle attacking _my_ guests on their wedding day no less!"

Ranma didn't see a visible change in the mermaid queen, but when Laura answered her tone was forcibly polite. "My sincere apologies, Kraken, but may I at least offer an objection to this union?"

"I feel like you've made your objections pretty damn clear," snapped Ranma, but she was stopped from speaking further by a silvery tentacle thrust towards her face.

Instead of speaking to Kraken, Laura turned towards Elle. "Are you certain of this, daughter? This human female cannot give you children nor can you properly feed from her essence."

Elle seemed shocked that the conversation had turned towards her. For a moment, she looked indecisive, her eyes darting between Laura and Ranma. Then her face set into a firm expression. Elle's fist opened, her hand took the coral ring, and the band was slipped onto her finger. "I am. Ranma saved my life."

Ranma admired her acting. Elle sold her declaration with very believable intent. At least...Ranma hoped it was just good acting.

"Queen Laura," began Meia, "I know you have no reason to trust her, but Ranma is a good human. In fact, she was escorting me so I could fulfill my own marriage vows."

Kraken looked surprised as she overheard. "You mean to say you're marrying this human as well?"

"No! My husband is still on land. He couldn't make the journey here."

Laura was still angry, but she seemed to realize the tide was against her now. "Very well. I will keep my own counsel, but we will be talking about this at length." The thinly veiled threat seemed to be directed at both Elle _and_ Ranma.

"I only kept it from you because I knew you'd react like this!" protested Elle

"Judging from your wife's combat prowess, I daresay she was expecting it as well. Now if you're quite finished—"

"I'm not. I want to spend some time with Ranma. Alone."

Laura met her daughter's pout with a cold gaze before swishing her tail and swimming towards the exit. "Do not keep me waiting long."

The aqua pentagram faded as the queen left. Elle's expression turned to one of relief, though it turned to a blush once she looked Ranma's way.

Meia was the first to break the silence. "Queen Kraken, if I may, could we discuss my own marriage proposal?"

"Of course. Do you have your written vows?"

"Well...about that..."

Leaving Meia and Kraken to their conversation, Ranma swam to Elle. "Hey um...not that I'm ungrateful for the save, but what's the plan here? I've played at this fake marriage thing before and it always blows up in the end."

Elle flustered. "I don't know! I just had to do something."

"I appreciate it, honest. What if we just called it off? Said something like...it's too soon for both of us, then you can make up a story about how I left you?"

"That might make things worse with Port Natalia," sighed Elle. "Mom was already making plans to attack. That's why I came here in the first place."

"Can mermaids even fight on land?"

"I don't know, but you saw how powerful mom was."

"Hmm. Random question. Would it make things better or worse if I showed up as a male the next time I talked to her?"

"What? How would that even—"

"Water based curse. When I get splashed with warm water, I turn male. Cold water turns me female like this. Long story. I'd show you, but there's no way to make hot water down here."

Elle took a moment to process that. "Maybe it'll be a little better? I don't think your gender matters so much as the human thing."

"Worth a shot. Do you think this whole pretend marriage thing is going to stop her from attacking the port?"

"Hopefully. For a little while at least."

"What if I tell the current monster lord Alice about her?"

Elle's eyes widened. "You know the monster lord?!"

"She fell out of the sky and attacked me. Now we're traveling together. It's another long story. Well?"

Elle hesitated for a moment before she shook her head. "Alice might kill her though."

Behind them, Kraken's voice suddenly grew louder. "So what you're saying is, you had two vows of marriage, but along the way a jellyfish girl ate one so you want me to use the same vow here, but for you and your husband?"

Meia breathed out a sigh of relief. "Yes, that is precisely what I was saying."

"Then I declare you and your husband Emil to be wed." Just like Elle before her, Kraken produced another red coral ring for Meia to wear.

"Do you want me to distract your mom while you talk to Kraken?" offered Ranma.

Elle let out a defeated sigh. "I'm not sure how much help she's going to be anymore." Still, she gave Ranma a nod.

Laura was waiting right outside the throne room. Ranma wasn't entirely sure if she'd been trying to listen in, but it was clear she had the queen's full attention now. The first question she asked, however, caught Ranma off guard. "What sort of water based magic are you infused with?"

"It's a curse," replied Ranma, guessing at what she'd sensed. She continued, deciding there was no point in hiding it. "When I'm in cold water, I look like this, and in warm water I change to a guy."

Reading the mermaid queen was impossible, but it wasn't hard to guess at her disbelief. "Have you had sex with my daughter?"

The flat, matter-of-fact way in which Laura delivered the question made Ranma choke a bit, a few bubbles getting expelled from her mouth. "No, nothing like that."

"And how much do you know about the way mermaids mate and feed?"

"Erm...not much?"

Laura's eyes narrowed. Ranma suddenly felt nervous. "Is it too late to go back to fighting?"

* * *

It took some time for Elle to get out of her meeting with Kraken, and by the time she swam back into the entrance hall, Ranma had learned far more about mermaids than she had ever wanted to.

Strangely, for Laura it wasn't so much the sex that was the issue as much as worry over Elle having a selfish or controlling partner. The hostility between Ranma and Laura remained, but she'd refrained from openly attacking her.

"If you have further adventures planned for the day, cancel them," said Laura sharply.

Meekly, Elle nodded and swam over to embrace Ranma. "When will I see you again?"

"Erm...soon, hopefully. I'll be traveling for a bit though."

Elle nodded and her grip tightened before she pushed forward and placed a kiss on Ranma's mouth. Short, sweet, and endearingly affectionate. "Thank you. I'll figure a way out of this," she murmured before releasing Ranma and swimming to her mother's side. The two soon vanished into the depths of the sea.

"I think you two make a wonderful couple. She'll grow to be as beautiful as her mother, I'm sure."

Ranma only barely resisted the urge to groan. "Meia, she's a kid. The only reason this isn't going to blow up in my face later is because I'm giving this part of the sea a wide berth from now on."

"Defying her mother like that seems like the exact opposite of childish to me," chided Meia.

Ranma didn't have a good answer to that, so she shifted the subject. "It's not like I can visit her again anyways. Unless they just sell these balls to anyone."

"You can keep mine," said Meia sweetly. "Consider it a reward for assisting me. And if you'd like a further reward, you can always visit my home in Port Natalia."

It took Ranma several seconds to realize exactly what Meia was implying. "But...you're married! And so am I! Kind of..."

"My husband likes to watch. It's the most adorable thing, really."

 _Perverts. Damn perverts all of them. Every single one._

Aloud, Ranma said, "Er...thanks, but I have somewhere to be."

Meia smiled, taking the refusal in stride. "Well my door is open if you'd ever like to visit."

Mercifully, any further talk of rewards was absent as the two of them swam back to the surface. Occasionally, Meia would glance down at her new ring and smile. Ranma kept an eye out for sea creatures, but the depths faded and soon she could see the shapes of docks and boats above.

"Thank you again, Ranma. It was a lot more exciting than I was expecting, but my husband will be delighted. I should be okay from here."

"Thanks for the save, too. Far as I'm concerned, I'm the one who still owes you," countered Ranma.

"We'll just call it even then," she said, extending her hand for a final shake before swishing her tail and rising to the surface.

Instead of following her though, Ranma pushed away from the city until a beach came into view. Only then did she surface with a gasp and a groan. "Almost like I never left home," she grumbled as she made her way to the shore. She had no interest in appearing in town with cut up and drenched clothing. As good as the Enrikan cloth had been, razor sharp icicle spires had been beyond its durability.

Short of getting a fire going, she needed to figure out what to do. Hopefully Alice would be waiting in Port Natalia. She had seen Alma attack Leviathan before she'd passed out, but who knew where she had en—

SPLASH!

Shaking his head a couple times, Ranma whirled around to see Alma Elma, a smile on her face and an empty steaming bucket in her hands.

"And here I thought Beri-chan was pulling my tail. You really do change into a cute little boy," Alma said with a giggle.

Ranma bristled at the comment. "Can you at least let me dry off before we start fighting again?"

"Oh, the fight? No, we're done with that," said Alma, tossing the wooden bucket aside. "I'm supposed to find you and bring you back to Port Natalia even..." Alma took a moment to clear her throat and imitate Alice's voice, "...'if you have to search the whole damn sea to do it'. Honestly, you'd think she'd forgotten she even _had_ a water knight."

Ranma frowned slightly, a memory coming back to him. "The slime with the red eyes?"

"Erubetie, that's the one. I wouldn't recommend getting within ten feet of her if you're a human. It would be a shame to lose a cutie like you."

He could feel Alma's eyes roaming up and down his body as he wrung out his shirt. Even though her words were mostly innocent, it was hard not to feel like prey in her presence. Everything he'd felt during their fight on the boat was amplified as a male. Seeking a distraction from his thoughts, Ranma fielded a question. "Why did you accept my challenge if you don't like fighting?"

Alma was ready with her answer. "Don't be silly Ranma-chan, I love fighting. I just don't feel the need to beat someone to a bloody stump to defeat them. Sex doesn't mix well with broken bones."

"But you can break bones. Easily."

"But why would I?" asked Alma sweetly. "Pain only makes someone fight harder. Pleasure and pleasant distractions make it harder to fight."

Ranma couldn't deny that her tactics had been effective, but he had a feeling she wasn't telling him everything. Still, it wasn't as though he could get her to admit it.

"Besides, I gave you a chance to look good in front of Beri-chan. You should thank me."

"There's nothing going on between us," deflected Ranma immediately.

"Alice then?"

"Not even."

"So that means I have an opening," teased Alma. "Maybe next time we can skip the fight entirely."

It was best just not to respond. Everything he said only seemed to give her another opening to tease him. Giving the Enrikan shirt a few more shakes, Ranma slid it back on. Even with all the tears, it held together surprisingly well, and the water had all but dried out. Hopefully he could get another.

"Oh, almost forgot to tell you," said Alma suddenly. "You might want to change back to female before you go into town."

"What? Why?"

In response, Alma reached between her breasts, pulled out a scroll, and flicked it open in front of his face. "This is you, right?"

The drawing of his face was near perfect, almost as though he'd posed for a portrait. Of course, the uncanny image was of secondary interest compared to the words that ran along the top and bottom of the parchment. "I'm...wanted by the Church of Ilias? Why?"

* * *

"Welcome to Port Natalia, home to the famous Mermaid Pub—"

"Excuse me miss, but have you seen this man? By order of the Church—"

"Ilias dammit Stan, I told you that I go first with my greeting, and _then_ you can pester them about your stupid business!"

"This business isn't stupid! These are direct ordered from the Church of Ilias!"

"Yeah well the church doesn't pay my wage, the mermaids do, so shove off!"

Ranma, once again in female form, ignored the town greeter and the arguing guard as she looked over the wanted poster again. "It doesn't even say what I'm wanted for."

"Well you are consorting with monsters," teased Alma. Unlike Alice, the succubus hadn't even bothered to put on a disguise, a fact that quickly attracted the attention of the guards...at first.

"Excuse me, would you happen to—"

"Be a succubus? Don't be silly, I'm just dressed up like one. It's good for business."

"Oh, my apologies. Carry on then."

Ranma frowned as the guard moved on, but not at Alma's flagrant abuse of charm magic. "I don't get it. You've been stopping ships from coming over and I've never been on this continent. How do they even know who I am?"

" _Do_ they know who you are? I don't see a name on that poster," Alma pointed out. "And they clearly don't know about _this_ side of you."

Ranma realized Alma's point. The poster was pretty bare bones despite the accurate drawing that accompanied it, and they didn't seem to know about the curse.

"Maybe you did something to annoy the goddess herself," suggested Alma. "She's always been the vindictive type."

Ranma stopped suddenly, her eyes rising to look at a sign stretched across the top of a tavern. "I'm gonna get some answers. Just let Alice know I'm here."

"The mermaid pub? So you have a type after all. Don't worry, I won't tell Alice. Go on and have your fun."

Ranma choked. "That's not even close to what I…" But Alma had already walked off before she could finish. Ranma closed her eyes and took a breath, composing herself before she pushed open the door to the pub.

Beyond the novelty of seeing mermaids intermingling with the humans, the pub was a fairly unremarkable place. Patrons were at the bar, people were being served at a number of tables, and conversation was flowing as freely as the alcohol. It was clear that the mermaid waitresses were the main draw of the place, with clothing that barely clung to their upper bodies, while a soothing singer's voice rose above the din and carried a relaxing feeling into the air. The only truly strange thing about the place was the primary serving area that had several inches of water flowing through it, likely to keep the mermaids comfortable.

Ranma made a beeline to the bar, scroll in hand. It only took a moment to catch the female bartender's attention. "So what's the deal with this guy?" she asked.

"Couldn't tell you," answered the mermaid immediately. It sounded like she'd been asked the question several times already. "A couple of days ago, soldiers came from the church and just started putting them up everywhere. Wouldn't say what his crimes were and they don't even have a name. Pretty big reward though."

"Does the church do this a lot?" asked Ranma.

"For humans? Almost never. Sorry, I don't know much more than that. Can I get you anything?"

"Water to start." Hopefully Alma and Alice would be back before Ranma had to start paying for anything. There were always limits to how long you could get away with ordering nothing from a bar, and she doubted this world would buy the 'my friend has my money' excuse any more than her world did.

Taking her mug, Ranma turned on her stool and looked at the crowd being served. The majority of the patrons were human men and other mermaids, the latter more than happy to show off for the former. Looking at them interacting made it seem like all the talk of the church and Ilias was exaggerated, though mermaids were the only 'monsters' around. What made them the exception? Clearly they hadn't had a smooth relationship from the start, given Laura's history, but how had they gotten past it?

Maybe it was as simple as a willingness to try. The harpies had come to an agreement with the humans when both sides were willing to put forth the effort. Although, how comfortable could someone really be around a monster like the mimic who made no secret about her carnivorous tendencies?

That wasn't even counting the truly powerful sorts like Alma, who tickled Ranma's danger sense with a simple look, and Alice who could probably wipe this port off the map with a light cough. It was fortunate that they seemed to be (mostly) responsible with their power, but it wasn't hard to imagine what would happen if some idiot like Ryoga was capable of such things.

Ranma frowned. Come to think of it, was Ryoga in this world with her? With her luck, he'd already vanished from this world.

"Stupid teleporting idiot," she murmured, shifting on her stool to face the lounge. Taking a closer look at the patrons, she realized why her mind had jumped to Ryoga.

Off in the corner was a dark-haired man, scarred, and with one arm hanging at his side, motionless. He looked like a traveler, with scuffed, ratty clothing bearing the dust of the road, but the thing that grabbed her attention most was the sheer aura of depression he was giving off. Depressed drunks in bars weren't unusual, but he seemed far too focused to be drunk.

A large sack lay beneath the table, his foot occasionally nudging it as he shifted and nursed his drink. Something was off about him, that much was plain, but she couldn't tell exactly what. Finally, it seemed like he reached a decision and drowned his drink before he threw some coins on the table and walked out.

The door to the bar opened and the air pushed in. A scent drifted past her nose, and then he was gone. The bag had been left behind. Ranma sniffed the air. "Sulfur?" she said aloud. Her eyes moved to the sack. Had he really left that behind on accident?

She was on her feet in an instant, weaving past the mermaids and the drunks. Her hand grasped the neck of the bag and pulled it open onto the table. Glass, chemicals, sulfur...something in the mixture was bubbling. Something else had just caught fire. Ranma didn't fully understand the contraption she was looking at, but she didn't have to. Patrons were pushed aside as she dashed back through the bar, hoping over tables and knocking over a pair of drunks on her way out. "Move it, move it, move it!"

The shoreline. She needed to get away from the buildings. The docks, they weren't too far away, and with a leap she was running across the roofs, jumping from house to house towards the longest pier she could see. The wind was at her back and pushed her along, as if responding to the urgency of the situation.

Her feet hit the wood of the docks, her mind racing just as much as her legs. Could she kick it without detonating the chemicals? Wait, throwing it in the water could harm the mermaids, she realized a bit too late. She needed to get this thing as high and far away as possible.

The Cuttlefish was at the pier. Her eyes moved to the crow's nest. Maybe that was high enough. Surprised shouts followed her from the sailors as she came aboard, but she ignored them and leaped up the mast in a blur of red and green. The second her foot touched the nest, Ranma threw open the gates and called on every bit of wind energy that had been at her back, letting it swirl around her like a mini-tornado. The bag flew from her hands. Her strength propelled it up into the sky and the wind caught it, sending it spiraling skyward until it was little more than a speck.

 **BOOM!**

The shock-wave from the explosion rippled through the air with enough force to nearly knock her over. A firestorm followed the noise and lit up the sky, prompting panicked shouts from below...and then it was gone, only a faint hint of ash left on the air.

It was tempting to breathe a sigh of relief and relax, but she'd only dealt with the immediate threat. For all she knew, that scarred, black haired man had more targets.

"Ranma? That you lass? What in the hells is going on?"

Ranma grabbed the rope near the mast, jumped from the nest, and slid down to land next to the captain. "Someone tried to bomb the mermaid's pub. Gonna go find him."

She didn't wait for a response before she took off, letting the wind propel her once more. Ranma wasn't sure why, but it seemed easier than ever to call on the power here and coax it to her will. She wasn't about to question her fortune though, there would be time for that later.

That man was likely running or hiding, but she had a distinct impression of his aura in her mind. If she was lucky, he might not have made it far, or he was starting to wonder why the mermaid pub was still standing. Maybe if she really tried, she could catch the scent of sulfur on the air and track him down—

It happened right as she landed back on the roof of the mermaid pub. The wind, which had been at her back all this time, suddenly shifted and battered her right in the face.

"There you are! You can't hide from the wind!"

Ranma's head turned rapidly, trying to find the source of the voice, but the wind was distorting the sound all around her. Finally she noticed something. A mug, floating in the air. No, it wasn't just a mug, something had grabbed onto it. Something a few inches tall with green hair and a matching green dress.

"Take this!" The mug was thrown and the water sailed out, hitting her square in the face and triggering her transformation.

Sputtering, the now male Ranma wiped his eyes. "The heck was that for?"

The fairy-like creature grinned and pointed at him in dramatic fashion. "I knew it! You're the one whose been using my powers without permission!"

"Permission? Wait, _you're_ the wind spirit?"

"You bet! And now that I have your secret figured out, you can't escape repaying me!"

"Repay...look, can we talk about this later? I'm trying to find someone. They just—"

The small fairy creature darted forward, nearly knocking Ranma off his feet with another rush of wind. "Oh no you don't, you're not getting away that easy. In fact, we're making a contract right here and now!"

"But—"

"No butts! Super Sylph contract powers activate!"

As fast as the wind she controlled, Sylph darted straight towards him, her tiny arm outstretched. His hand came up reflexively to shield himself, making contact with her fist.

And then the world went white.


	8. Chapter 8: The Church of Ilias

"Hey! Heeey! Wake up! Come on, I didn't hit you that hard!"

The voice was high pitched, shrill, and dug straight to his skull to dance on the sensitive gray matter within. Under protest, Ranma's eyes opened. He was inside somewhere, but that green haired thing waved in his vision still, her small arm extended and her tiny palm repeatedly poked his nose.

"Nnhh…" Even his own voice sounded loud in his ears.

"He's awake! I told you I didn't kill him!"

Three others. Without a glance, Ranma could tell that Alma, Alice, and Granberia were close by. Sylph, he remembered she called herself that, also had presence, but it was something that tickled at the back of his mind rather than occupy physical space.

"Yes, he's not dead," agreed Alice. "Now enlighten us as to why you decided to knock him out."

Alice was clearly making an effort to keep her voice low, unlike Sylph who responded with another ear gouging protest. "I didn't mean to knock him out! He's the first one to respond to my powers like this!"

"I think a better question is why you made a contract with him in the first place," interrupted Granberia. "I thought those who wanted to use your power had to seek you out."

Ranma raised a hand and pinched the bridge of his nose. A massive headache was coming on. "Sylph, gimme a sec. Stay quiet."

Sylph was quiet for exactly one second. "Did you mean that figuratively or lit—"

"A hundred seconds," groaned Ranma, feeling the pitch of her voice like fingernails across his scalp.

Mercifully, Sylph's voice went silent, but the effort visibly strained her. Ranma closed his eyes and tried to focus. Carefully, Ranma began to shut out the sensations one by one, starting with the faintest sounds on the edge of his senses before he moved inward. It was fantastically difficult, but the more he worked at it, the more the noises faded and the currents of air drifted away from him.

"Did you do it?"

Ranma groaned and rubbed his head. "No. No I didn't."

Alice let out a sigh. "There will be time for this later. We need to speak now." Dark energy raced up her palm before she turned and pressed it against the door. Her magic washed over the walls, floor, and ceiling. All the sensations were abruptly cut off and left Ranma in a blissful void of silence. "Better?"

"Much. Thank you."

Alice gave Ranma a nod before she turned her attention to Sylph. "Now then, what compelled you to seek out Ranma and form a contract with him?"

Sylph quivered under the monster lord's glare. "Because I really needed help and Ranma is really good at using the wind. Everyone in the city was talking about him."

"Help with what exactly?" pressed Alice.

"Oh! Right!" Sylph suddenly turned back to Ranma, her tone panicked. "Ranma, you have to help me! They took Gnomey!"

"The earth spirit?" asked Alice before Ranma could express his confusion. "How?"

"There was this red haired woman with these two other metal thingies and they had Gnomey in this glass box with a bunch of wind and they all looked really scary so I stayed out of sight, but then they all vanished!"

Granberia's shock was clear. "You mean to say they 'captured' the earth spirit? Shouldn't that be impossible?"

"It should," agreed Alice, "but it's safe to assume she's okay since we aren't experiencing land-shattering earthquakes yet."

"Could they be trying to harness her power?" asked Granberia.

Ranma spoke up. "Sylph, what exactly did the woman look like? What was she wearing?"

"Erm...really long red hair, glasses, and a big white coat."

"Like a lab coat? Was she some sort of scientist?"

"What's a scientist?"

"Um…"

Alma cut in. "How are they hiding from Sylph? The very nature of the wind should make that impossible."

"There aren't many options," agreed Alice. "Even a barrier like this one could be sensed from the outside, and if they do intend to study Gnome they would need a place of significant size."

"So you're going to help, right?" Asked Sylph eagerly.

"Immediately. Alma, I want you to go to the forest ahead of us. Keep watch and try to find where Gnome may have been taken."

Alma pouted. "But I just got here! I want to go on adventures with the cute hero, too! Why does Beri-Chan get to have all the fun?"

"Alma there are many times I'm willing to put up with your lax nature but this is not one of them."

The sharp rebuke made the succubus stiffen slightly. Her next words were far more subdued. "As you command my lord." With a final wave to Granberia and a wink in Ranma's direction, Alma set off through the window and into the sky.

The brief break in the barrier reminded Ranma that he hadn't quite regained control over his senses yet, though it did give him an idea. "Hey, Sylph, you said you were listening around the city about me. What did you hear about that?" His hand gestured to one of the wanted posters pinned to the wall of the room with his face on it.

"Oh! Those things! Um...the guards were saying that it was a mandate from the Pope!"

Ranma blinked in confusion. "The pope? There's a pope here?"

"He's the figurehead for the Church of Ilias," explained Alice. "And if he is the one who gave the order, that means Ilias is involved, though I can't imagine what you've done to annoy her."

"Maybe Ilias considers him a threat," suggested Granberia.

"A potential threat, perhaps," agreed Alice, "but unless he's hiding something, it seems difficult to imagine him challenging her."

Ranma tried not to let that comment annoy him. Alice did have a point, given that she couldn't beat Ilias either. "How about I just go and ask this pope guy myself?"

Alice gave him a look. "You want to go into the heart of San Ilia and just ask the leader of the Church of Ilias why you're wanted?"

"Why not? They don't seem to want me dead and I don't want to spend all my time traveling as a girl. Better to just go there, figure out what they want, and deal with it?"

"I approve," said Granberia. "Confront the problem head on rather than hide from it."

"That's been your solution to every problem that has ever been in your path," muttered Alice. "San Ilia isn't like Iliasville. The place is blanketed in holy energy and the guard force there is actually trained."

"You're saying I should just give up and keep looking over my shoulder for the church from now on?" Ranma said with irritation.

"No, I'm saying you should be smart about how you approach this." Alice turned to Granberia and beckoned her close, palm glowing with dark energy. Once she was in reach, the palm was pressed against her armor.

Granberia's form flickered. A moment later Ranma was looking at a well built, armored human woman with nary a draconian feature in sight.

"Keep your tail close. It's an illusion, not a transformation," Alice cautioned.

"I assume you have business elsewhere?" asked Granberia as she studied her human-looking fingers.

"My dark energy will stick out like an obelisk in San Ilia. If I came with you, we'd have to fight the whole city. Manageable, but it would be a disaster for monster-human relations. Besides, I need to take a trip beneath the sea and find out why the Queen Mermaid has become so agitated."

Ranma winced. Alice noticed it. "You did something." It wasn't a question.

"I...might have accidentally married her daughter, Elle."

Sylph gasped. "You got married? I'll give you the wind spirit's blessing then!"

Alice wasn't amused.

* * *

Ranma, now female, rubbed her head, trying to stall the entirely new headache that had been brought on by Alice's tirade. "Did all those words really mean idiot, or was she making them up at the end?"

"Perhaps Alice felt your particular brand of idiocy required the invention of some new ones," theorized Granberia. "I've never heard of anyone 'accidentally' marrying a princess."

"It wasn't my idea," grumbled Ranma who tried not to wince as she heard a market crier shout about his wares. She'd managed to filter the sounds around her to a dull roar, but a few particularly loud ones still pierced her defenses. "Elle was the one who played into it."

"Ooh! Maybe it's because she's always dreamed of a life on land and her mother wouldn't let her, so she's trying to marry Ranma to escape! You did kiss her to be sure, right?" Sylph quipped excitedly.

Ranma could only conclude that Sylph's train of thought was as erratic as the wind she commanded. "I really don't think that's it."

"What if she's going through a rebel phase and—"

"Hey Sylph, do you have any advice for this?" Interrupted Ranma.

"Advice for what?"

Ranma closed her eyes and took a breath. "Right now there's sixteen different animals within fifty feet of me and a family of birds being fed. Up ahead, two miles away, there's a group of guards questioning travelers on the road about my male self. Behind us, a caravan just set out with four wagons, each one pulled by four horses. The horse leading the train has a limp."

Her eyes opened and she let out her breath. "And I ain't even trying to use your power. If you have some advice for handling all this, I'd like to hear it."

"Um...try not focusing so much? Or focus in the opposite way?"

"You have no idea, do you?"

"This is your challenge to overcome, Ranma," interrupted Granberia. "Sylph is the embodiment of wind. Trying to convey that information would be akin to you explaining how your heart beats."

"Yeah! That's exactly it!" agreed Sylph quickly. "I don't know a thing about heartbeats!"

Ranma made an effort to calm herself and thought through the problem from a different angle. "The last person you made a pact with. What did they go through?"

Sylph's eyes lit up. "Heinrich was amazing with wind! He was all...whoosh! And then...zoom! Everyone he fought didn't stand a chance!

"Woosh then zoom. Got it. Thanks Sylph," Ranma deadpanned.

"You're welcome!"

It was difficult, but not impossible to push the spirit's voice from her mind. Ranma's senses felt like they were at war. She could feel the growing presence of people on the main road and even a distant monster or two, yet at the same time it felt like she was only tapping into a fraction of the spirit's potential.

"I feel like I already know the answer to this, but would Alma be of any help?"

Granberia let out a snort. "You definitely know the answer to that."

Traffic on the road quickly began to build. Unlike the paths between the towns on Ilias Continent, this one had plentiful amounts of travelers that moved in both directions, some mounted, others not. Many of the larger groups had armed guards, and much of the talk that passed her ears was about the ship that had finally managed to pass through the blockade, along with the bounty issued by the church.

Desperate to distract herself from the growing din, Ranma focused on the wind around her. It wasn't hard to remember her fight with Alma and recall how she'd so effortlessly coaxed the wind to her whims. Ranma's hand pushed at the breeze, her fingers spread, and slowly tried to move the currents away from her body.

The result was less than satisfying. She could feel the energy slip through her fingers, determined to go its own path, and trying to impose her will on the wind only made it more obstinate. That did make a certain sort of sense. Granberia had said Alma embodied the wind. A free spirit who didn't like to be burdened by responsibility. Yet how could she coax the wind to do what she wished while also allowing it freedom?

"Wow, that is a difficult problem. I never really thought about it like that," said Sylph suddenly.

Ranma stared at her. "Are you reading my mind?"

"No, you're just thinking really really loudly. It's a little distracting."

Somehow, Ranma resisted the urge to facepalm. "Sorry, I'll try to think quieter."

Think quieter...was she overthinking this? Maybe Sylph had a point. Ranma closed her eyes and searched for the serene state that had come so smoothly to her beneath the water. It wasn't nearly as easy on land, but it was manageable. Her thoughts grew quiet, her senses focused, and all the background noise faded.

"Wow! You can use Deeny's power too?"

And just like that, Sylph's voice shattered her serenity and brought all the noises in the world rushing back louder than ever.

"Sylph…" Ranma growled.

"We're getting close," Granberia cut in. "Are you capable of fighting?" To her, it wasn't a question of 'if' they'd be fighting, but when.

"As long as my opponents don't run at me screaming, I'll be fine."

As the holy city of San Ilia came into view, however, that control was put to the test. It was the first proper city Ranma had seen in this world and an impressively fortified one at that. A plentiful amount of guards manned the gate of entry while strong stone walls lined the perimeter.

There was something beyond even the walls and the guards, however. An aura of oppressive energy that radiated outward from within.

Granberia shuddered. "Holy energy. Concentrated here more than anywhere else."

Ranma had felt it before, back on Ilias continent when she'd been taken to the temple after her first fight with Alice. "Is it painful?"

"Not yet."

Traffic slowed as they reached the gate. Wisps of wind drew snippets of conversation to Ranma's ears. "They're showing my picture to everyone passing through. I don't hear them saying my name though."

Fortunately, with Granberia's disguise and Ranma's gender change, neither of them were questioned at length. Inside the walls, the noise practically drowned Ranma. Pockets of wind swirled about, carrying a multitude of voices about everything and anything worth talking about.

Granberia noticed her discomfort. "Perhaps it would be best to hold off on this confrontation."

Ranma shook her head. "No...I'll figure this out."

Granberia's look was doubtful, but she didn't question further. "We should scout this city before we confront the pope. Secure our escape route in advance. Meet back here in fifteen minutes," she concluded, gesturing to the nearby inn.

Ranma responded with a nod before she turned and started her patrol. San Ilia's impressive fortifications on the outside were reflected on the inside, too. Guardhouses were a common sight next to the entrances and busy roads, and there was a sizable barracks near the center of the city, next to the largest church Ranma had ever seen. No doubt where the pope resided.

Most of the guard force had been stationed with intent to repel attacks from the outside, but their heavy presence near the gate and walls made potential escape routes complicated. Many didn't look much stronger than the ones Granberia had cleaved through in Iliasburg, but others were infused with the energy that blanketed the city. She could only guess at their capabilities.

"Psst! Ranma! Can I say something?" Sylph was trying her very hardest to whisper, but even that was enough to give Ranma a mental sting..

"Yeah, go ahead," said Ranma as she rubbed her temple.

"Deeny's power is all about that meditation serene thingy. You should use it again but like...halfway."

Ranma was tempted to dismiss the advice out of hand, but there was an odd logic in what Sylph said. Though that did beg the question, "Is she going to get mad at me for using her power?" Like you did, she added silently.

"Well she might, but if you're doing it to help Gnomey then she'll forgive you. Probably. You _are_ helping with that, right?" For a brief moment, Sylph's cheerful look turned stern and the wind around her pressed inward towards Ranma.

"Of course I'm going to help," Ranma hastily assured her. "This is just like...a side quest thing. We'll have it wrapped up in no time."

The wind instantly calmed. "Ohh! Yeah, side quests are really important! You should be as strong as possible before fighting whoever took Gnomey!"

Grateful that she'd bought the excuse, Ranma turned her attention back to scouting. No place seemed better than the others when it came to gates or scaling the walls. The path leading to Port Natalia was the busiest, but also the most watched, while the other gates had less manpower but far less traffic to hide amongst.

"Wow, can you really make tornadoes with your bare hands?"

Ranma let out a low growl. "That's not how the technique—"

"You use cold air pressure combined with warm air colliding in a spiral motion to create a tornado by utilizing your opponent's battle aura," finished Sylph. "Saying you can throw tornadoes is a lot cooler though."

"H-how?" Ranma choked out.

"By reading your thoughts. You have this really interesting ongoing back and forth in your mind about creating new techniques that's hard to ignore."

Her curiosity piqued, Ranma couldn't help but ask, "Any of them show promise?"

"The gale jump for sure, but I wouldn't count on being able to fly anytime soon. Even Heinrich couldn't do that. Maybe if you had...ten times the power, Mandy's help, and a pair of wings."

"Crush a guy's dreams why don't you?" grumbled Ranma.

"Happy to help!" said Sylph earnestly, oblivious to the sarcasm.

With the major paths in and out of the city scouted, Ranma focused more on calming her senses through the serene state of mind, her fingers wrapped around the ball of guidance. The small thread of energy helped focus her thoughts little by little, though every time it felt like she was near 'normal', Sylph would interject with whatever was on her mind...and occasionally what was on Ranma's mind.

"I think you have a better chance with Alma than Granberia, but you could probably charm Alice, too!"

Ranma sputtered. "Where the hell are you pulling this from?"

"Your subconscious. It's a lot easier to hear when you're drifting off into that serene thingy."

"Stop reading into it!" demanded Ranma with a huff. "If you've been listening to my thoughts then you know why nothing's gonna happen."

"Were you going to tell Alice you're engaged?"

"Not by choice and I'm pretty sure she wouldn't give a damn."

The rest of the scouting mission turned up little and Granberia was already at the meeting point when she returned.

"The east gate isn't any more vulnerable than the west. Competent guards, a handful of holy warriors. Fighting our way out seems inevitable if we have to make an escape."

Ranma picked up on the unasked question. "I'm not at a hundred percent but I can handle some humans just fine. None of them looked that strong."

"The strongest will be in the castle with the pope," reminded Granberia, "and holy energy should not be underestimated."

"What does holy energy do exactly?" asked Ranma.

"It's a tool used by those Ilias blesses, directly opposed to the dark energy used by monsters. It is most potent when used against them, but humans are not immune."

"Is that going to be a problem for you?"

Granberia smirked. "There's more fire in my veins than darkness. Worry about yourself, first."

She reached a hand behind her back and produced a bucket and length of rope. Ranma startled when Granberia cleared her throat and a small burst of fire left her disguised human-like face and heated the water. "Last chance to back out."

Ranma shook her head, crossed her arms behind her back, and turned around. "Don't hold back. I can escape from any knot."

* * *

With bound arms, tied ankles, and a gag in his mouth, there wasn't much for Ranma to do except watch and listen as Granberia marched him straight to the cathedral with one hand on the rope and the other on the hilt of her sword. The guards quickly noticed their presence and soon a small procession had gathered around Granberia.

"That's the one?"

"Barely even a man."

"Ever get his name?"

"All this trouble for him?"

The talk died down as Granberia approached the church where two guards waited by the door. One of them spoke up. "That's far enough, hunter. We'll take him from here and get your reward."

"Unacceptable," said Granberia bluntly. "I get paid before I turn him over and I'm going to hear the full story of why he's wanted before that. Call it a professional interest."

The guard looked unsure. "I'm afraid that's impossible ma'am. Only the pope knows of his crimes."

"Then get the pope himself to tell me. I don't turn over innocents no matter how high the bounty is."

"Ma'am, the pope is very busy—"

"Tell him to make time or I am leaving with my prisoner. You have five minutes."

The younger guard fled and left the older guard to awkwardly stand and fidget beneath Granberia's stare. Even disguised as a human, there was a clear intensity in her eyes and actions.

Four minutes later the guard burst back through the doors, out of breath. "Poh...Pope Peter will see you now," he patted out. "Please keep a firm hand on your prisoner."

The doors opened up the rest of the way and a procession of six soldiers took up positions on either side of Granberia to escort her through the finely decorated halls.

The concentration of holy energy was particularly potent here. While Ranma couldn't tell the paladins from the regular guards at a glance, the two at the back seemed to be armed with weapons seeped in it. Almost all of them seemed unsure of the situation.

Ranma tried his best to look passive and kept his head down. Sylph's power was a lot easier to manage indoors and the air currents were more readily distinguishable from one another. The cathedral had seemed big from the outside, but now Ranma could feel an extensive basement as well.

"Ooh! What do you think they're hiding? Powerful rituals? Dangerous monsters? The dead body of the true Ilias?"

Thankfully Sylph kept herself hidden and only spoke in his mind. Ranma had a feeling his lack of crimes wouldn't stop an overreaction if she appeared in their midst.

More guards waited for them at the entrance to the audience hall. Steely faced, fully armored, and ready hands on their weapons, this group was clearly the 'elites' Granberia had spoken of. Finally, there was the pope himself. Tall, elderly, and blessed with kind eyes, Pope Peter was far more relaxed than everyone else in the room. His throne was nothing more than a simple white armchair, and his robes lacked any sort of flourish or finery. The only real distinguishing part of his outfit was the tall hat he wore.

"Samson, please tell your men to wait outside the doors. You may remain." His tone was firm, not forceful, and the presumed leader was quick to obey, leaving only the two 'elites' and himself in the room with the pope. "May I have your name, hunter?"

Ranma felt Granberia's hand tighten around the rope. "Alll...ex. Alex."

"Alex, you have my thanks for your work and my deepest gratitude for your compassion. There are not many hunters who would be so mindful of their charges. Would you please remove the gag? I wish to speak with him directly."

Granberia nodded and pulled the cloth free. Ranma didn't waste any time speaking. "You got something to say old man? Why don't you start by telling me why I'm here?"

"As you can see, there is a reason I found the gag necessary," Granberia groused. "Just let me know if you want it back on."

The pope raised a placating hand. "Perhaps an introduction is in order?"

"You seriously don't know my name? Fine. It's Ranma. Ranma Salome, martial artist and part-time adventurer. Now lemme ask again. Why am I here?"

Peter's eyes widened slightly at the mention of his name. "Ranma...would you happen to be the same one that helped Lady Sutherland?"

Now it was Ranma's turn to be surprised. "Seriously? She knows you too?"

The pope leaned back in his chair and chuckled. "She is a remarkable woman with a talent for spreading news as fast as any courier or crier."

"You can say that again…"

"In addition, I must extend my thanks for your help in resolving the blockade in the southern seas," the pope continued. "Despite not being blessed as such, your actions are exemplary of a hero and adventurer."

Ranma wasn't sure how to respond. Of all the things he expected to face here, sincere gratitude was not among them.

"And you, Alex, must be the red haired woman I've heard about that travels with him and are looking after him even now."

Granberia tensed but Peter raised his hand once more. "Please, be at ease. I have no wish to do harm to either of you. I simply wish to ascertain the reason why Ilias wishes for your demise."

A chilly silence descended on the room. Ranma could hear Granberia's hand move to her sword and grip the hilt.

"Like...the goddess Ilias? Center of your religion?" asked Ranma dumbly.

"The very same," said Peter gravely. "Two nights past she appeared in my dreams with a vision of your face and explicit orders to see to your execution."

Something in the room was about to snap. Granberia's aggressive posture had put the paladins on edge and Samson seemed ready to draw his blade, too. Only Peter remained at ease. From the way his eyes remained fixed on Ranma, it was clear he'd watched for a reaction.

Ranma took a moment to recover from his surprise. "Does she...do this often?"

Peter shook his head. "Not once in my time as Pope and never for a human. Tell me, Ranma, do you have any idea why you are the exception?"

Ranma tried to think back. It wasn't hard given that he hadn't been in this world for long. Had he done something to annoy her? Was it because he was an outsider? His association with Alice? His recent 'marriage' to Princess Elle? Alice had described Ilias as petty and vindictive, but what had he done that warranted execution?

"I don't know," he said finally. "I stayed at the Sutherland Inn for a night, caused some property damage, and I think Lady Sutherland passed that bill onto the church."

Pope Peter laughed. It was a jovial laugh that drained the tension from the room. "That woman has every right to charge us, given the usual heroes she puts up with. Please, consider your night spent there as a gift from the church for the trouble we've caused you."

Ranma stared at him, shocked. "That's it?"

The pope nodded. "That's it. I will not order the execution of someone who has committed no provable wrongdoing. You have an honest face, Ranma, and I have heard nothing but good things about your deeds. I will rescind your bounty immediately. I hope you will continue your adventuring career as well. The world needs more heroes like you."

Ranma let out a sigh of relief. His fingers curled and tugged on a particular section of the rope and let it fall to the ground. "Thanks. I was really expecting that to go a lot worse."

Peter smiled. "Despite what your companion may have told you, the Church of Ilias is not _entirely_ filled with zealots."

Granberia didn't react, but the underlying message was clear. The pope knew, or at least suspected, her true nature. "What about Ilias? Do you mean to tell me the _pope_ is going to ignore her edict?"

"On the contrary. Given the unusual nature of the dream, I can only assume that it was not Ilias that sent it."

"That is where you are mistaken."

The ethereal female voice shook the room. Granberia's sword was out in an instant and the guards had their weapons drawn moments later. At the center between Ranma and Peter, light began to twist and distort around a focal point before it burst into a holy radiance.

When the light faded, a woman stood in the center. Fair, smooth skin, bright red eyes, and a simple two-piece outfit all drew the eye, but it was the wings that caught Ranma's attention, and the twin halos poised above her silver-haired head.

"I am the archangel Ariel. By the command of Ilias, you have been sentenced to death."

The power she gave off was overwhelming. The paladins seemed unsure of who to attack. Peter's mouth was open and his eyes were wide.

Only Granberia was unaffected by the pressure being exerted. "On what crimes?" she demanded.

"It is not my place to ask. I am here to deliver judgment," Ariel replied firmly.

The archangel's power expanded and the air became heavy. Ranma struggled to take in breath, and fight through his scrambled senses.

"Behind!" Granberia's shove sent him to the ground and a loud clash of steel rang out as heavy broadsword met with a smaller, sleeker long sword wielded by a second angel.

Ranma hadn't sensed a thing. The wind remained utterly still in the new angel's presence, even as Granberia's sword clashed with hers.

Or did it?

The angel's holy blade suddenly wavered and passed straight through Granberia's sword. She took it in stride and thrust at her opponent's midsection, but the steel passed straight through without a mark. Wide open, the angel thrust and pierced straight through Granberia's armor and the scales beneath her illusion.

All of it happened before Ranma even hit the ground. He could see the freshly inflicted wound burn with holy energy as the smaller angel twisted the blade.

"Sylph!" Ranma called. Wind pooled around his back to launch him to his feet, and then off the ground entirely. His first strike landed hard against the armored angel's arm. The second hit her side and sent her careening into a wall.

Ariel moved in the corner of his eye. Violet arcs of energy danced along her arms. He quickly grabbed Granberia's sword from her shaking hand. His energy channeled into the blade and the sword was raised just in time to meet the arc bolt aimed at his face.

Lightning struck metal and was deflected skyward. The sword was left blackened and bent. Granberia suddenly was on the move, drawing the holy blade from her side as she dashed forward and plunged it straight through Ariel's chest.

Once more, however, the blade passed through as though she were a ghost, and a blast of electricity sent Granberia flying back to land near Ranma.

"Your tainted energy cannot touch me," scoffed Ariel. Lightning built up around her arms once more. "Submit yourself to Ilias' judgment!"

Ranma saw Granberia's grip tighten on the hilt of the sword. Impulsively, his hand shot forward and pushed as much of his energy into it as possible. Lightning struck. Granberia struck back.

"Vaporizing Rebellion Sword!"

Granberia's speed defied all sense and reason, the edge of the stolen angel's blade cutting eloquently through the bolts and scattering them about the room. The two paladins shielded the pope and fell down paralyzed as they were hit.

Ranma saw his opening and danced through the deflected bolts, each one a vivid mark on his consciousness thanks to Sylph's power. By the time Ariel realized his intent, it was too late.

"Kachuu Tenshin Amaguriken!"

He almost wasn't prepared for how fast his fists moved under Sylph's power. It was enough to feel the burn of the air as he hammered the archangel with blows. The barrage of lightning ceased, and Ariel's red eyes turned on Ranma.

Suddenly a sword point blossomed from her stomach.

"Did you feel that one?" growled Granberia.

Ranma shoved her further back onto the blade and kicked her into the opposite wall.

"We leave, now!" said Granberia sharply. Her face was pale and her wound was bleeding profusely. The holy energy glowed visibly, as if it were holding the wound open. The illusion around her body had fallen away, too, right in time for the rest of Samson's guards to burst through the door.

"Captain!"

"Your holiness!"

"Is that Granberia?"

Ranma didn't wait for them to draw their conclusions. Ariel and the other angel were already starting to rise. He pulled Granberia's arm over his shoulder and pooled the wind at his back. "Hang on!"

Channeling the wind beneath his feet, Ranma charged the line of guards. "Gale Jump!" The height was exactly what he'd hoped for. The shockwave and burst of wind that knocked the guards back was a nice bonus.

His heart sank when he saw that a third angel was waiting by the cathedral's entrance. This one carried a bow notched with heart shaped arrows. "Got you in my sights!"

The bow released with a 'twang' and the arrows turned into pink blurs. Ranma abandoned his sprint towards the entrance and flung himself down one of the hallways, dragging Granberia along. "Sylph, I need an exit!"

The arrows curved before they would have hit the ground and realigned with Ranma to chase him down the hall. The small Cupid angel flew after him, firing wildly. "There's no escape for you, sinner! Submit to Ilias!"

While the pink arrows stayed hot on his heels, the golden ones she fired traveled from her bow in the blink of an eye, piercing everything in their path, including the floor beneath.

Ranma put on a burst of speed, rounded a corner, blitzed through a door, and found himself in a library. Behind him the pink arrows thudded into the door behind. "Tell me you're still awake," he demanded as he gave Granberia a shake.

Granberia growled. "What are we doing here? Focus on escaping you idiot."

Ranma spent a precious second to look her over. Her scaly hand pressed hard against the wound that still refused to close. Even if the Cupid didn't see which door they'd entered, she could probably follow the blood trail.

"There's a secret passage here that goes underground," Ranma explained as he moved them towards the back of the library and toward the shelf where he'd sensed the air currents coming from. There was probably some secret lever somewhere on the shelf but there was no time to look.

"And you're sure it leads outside?" Granberia asked.

"No, but I'm damn sure the normal exits are all being watched. Looks like we'll have to break through this."

A voice came from the shelf. "No need for that. Allow me." One of the books glowed ominously with a monster aura right before the bookcase swung open and revealed a staircase seeped in shadow.

"I will close it behind you. Please give Lord Alice my regards," said the voice near the shelves.

Ranma had neither the time nor the inclination to question why a monster chose to hide in a bookcase or what such a monster would even look like. The wind had changed, which meant someone had just opened the library door. With a quick word of thanks, Ranma descended the stairs in total darkness, and let the wind guide his path.

The cramped spiral staircase soon opened up onto a room. Blue crystals holstered within small alcoves in the wall lit up at their arrival to cast an eerie glow on the stone walls. The only way forward was a heavy stone door with an archaic carved symbol on the front, but Ranma ignored that for the moment.

"Your wound isn't closing," he said as he shifted Granberia to a sitting position against the wall. "What did they hit you with?"

"Something clearly intended to kill you," Granberia responded. "Focus on getting us out of here and I'll worry about my bleeding."

Ranma pulled off his shirt and tossed it to her. "Tear off what you need."

He returned his attention to the door. An initial look at it showed it was seeped in holy energy without a visible way to open it. Cautiously, he pressed his palm against the stone to see how the energy reacted. Immediately, he could feel several fracture points within the web, and his ki pushed against them.

"How were you able to hurt them?" asked Granberia. "My sword passed right through."

On reflection, Ranma noted that Ariel seemed downright shocked that his fists had connected with her after they'd phased through Granberia's attacks. "I don't know. I just did what I always do."

"Then figure it out quickly before they find us."

Ranma let the comment slide and reminded himself that if he'd be irritated too if he'd been stabbed through the chest. His energy pushed outward into the seal, pressed against all those fracture points at once, and with a single tap, the stone crumbled. An explosion of holy energy accompanied the collapse and the chunks of stone turned to dust.

New information came to him as air flowed from the room. There was no way out, but the room was not empty. In the midst of a large, drawn circle laid a succubus. Even in the dim light from the crystals outside, Ranma could tell that much, though the circle itself stopped him from sensing her energy.

What he could sense was the nature of the second seal around her. "Hey...Granberia? What kind of succubus gets imprisoned with a holy energy seal _and_ a dark energy seal?"

"One that doesn't play nice with others," came the response from within the room.

Fingers snapped and the room was bathed in light from a dark flame. Beneath the succubus, the circle began to glow an angry red color, immediately siphoning energy away from the flame. "This is a nice surprise. I was expecting a paladin or a monster lord."

In the light of the glowing circle and conjured flame, the prisoner was fully visible, and simply looking at her was enough to color Ranma's cheeks. The succubus' outfit bordered the line of complete nudity and pushed a couple toes across. Her 'clothing' consisted of a bra and thong, both a slight transparent color that gave a mildly obscured view between her legs and across her chest. Her skin was inhumanly pale, which only accentuated her bright blue hair and glowing eyes.

"Well? You broke one seal. What about the other?"

Ranma shook his head to clear his senses. "I didn't even know you were here. I was looking for a way out."

"You came to the exact wrong place for that." The succubus swept her hand out and gestured to the stone walls that surrounded her. "This is a prison."

"Who the hell are you talking to?" Granberia was on her feet, a piece of Ranma's torn shirt tied tight around her waist. Her eyes widened as she peered into the doorway. "A succubus? Here?"

"I could say the same of you, dragon. Why are you in the middle of a holy city?"

A tingle fell down Ranma's spine as a fresh air current slipped down the stairway. "We don't have time for this. One of the angels just broke a hole in the bookcase. They'll be down here any second."

The succubus smiled. "I could help with that."

"How?" demanded Granberia. "Dark energy can't touch them."

"By playing decoy. I have a reputation. Give me ten seconds with him," the succubus said as she gestured to Ranma, "and I'll have more than enough energy to draw them away."

The bookcase was being torn apart now, though it was impossible to tell how many angels were there. Hopefully that book monster was okay. "What's your name?"

"Is that important?" asked the succubus curiously.

"Yes," said Ranma flatly.

The succubus waited for a moment then sighed when it became clear Ranma wasn't going to elaborate. "Morrigan. Now why do you want to know?"

"In case you make me regret this and I have to tell the monster lord what happened," Ranma said as he knelt by the sealing circle. "I'd better not hear of any humans dying either."

Morrigan huffed. "What kind of succubus do you take me for?"

"One that both humans and monsters decided to seal away in the dungeon of a holy city," Granberia reminded.

The dark energy seal was not difficult to crack. Much like the holy one, there were a number of fracture points in its design, and a quick push of energy into those spots caused it to crumble. All of the dark energy left in the seal was promptly pulled inward towards Morrigan who let out a sigh of contentment.

Slowly, the glow spread from the succubus' eyes to her entire body and illuminated the room. Now that Ranma could sense her properly, he could tell just how weak the seal had made her, but that was already fading. "Is it really that easy for you?" She murmured before she gingerly stepped out of the circle.

Ranma stood and looked her in the eye. "There's at least one angel coming down the stairs right now."

Morrigan grinned as she approached. "I'm a succubus of my word. Just give me ten seconds."

The kiss did not start out pleasant. Morrigan was hungry and it showed in the way she latched on to his energy and drained it hard. The initial pull sent a wave of numbness through his body and forced him to fight against his reflexive urge to push back. As the edge faded from her hunger, the sensations became far more enjoyable as Morrigan sent some of her own energy back into the kiss. An electric tingle danced across her tongue, which pushed deeper towards his throat until—

"That's ten," said Granberia, putting a hand on Morrigan's shoulder.

Morrigan's eyes flicked between Ranma and Granberia before she grinned. "You might want to cut this one loose, cutie. Dragons are notoriously poor lovers." With a wink, the wings extended on her back and she took off.

Shouts began to echo down the stairs almost immediately.

"She's free?"

"Stop her!"

One of those voices belonged to Ariel, and her command was followed by the cries of several confused humans. An explosion of lustful energy followed that made Ranma's skin tingle.

"I hope that wasn't a mistake," murmured Granberia.

"If she was sealed, they didn't want her dead, right?" asked Ranma with some uncertainty. From the sounds Ariel was making, it certainly seemed like she wanted the succubus dead. "We should go before someone thinks to check down here. Can you walk?"

Granberia nodded. "I'll be fine."

Ranma's foot paused on the bottom step of the stone staircase as a thought occurred to him. "Can you absorb energy like Morrigan did? I mean...if it will help you recover…"

Granberia's stare was murderous. "You don't want to finish that thought."

"Right, right. Sorry. Damn tomboy."

* * *

Morrigan had left utter chaos in her wake. The angels were nowhere in sight and at least a dozen guards had been laid out, alive but drained of their energy. Ranma took the chance to salvage a new shirt from one before they took off in the opposite direction of Morrigan's presence. The cathedral had gone into high alert, with guard patrols everywhere, but Sylph's omnipresent wind made avoiding them a simple matter of patience.

It was impossible to tell how many angels were in the cathedral. He saw bow wielding Cupids at least three different times, but his usual methods of sensing others simply didn't work with them. Fortunately, the angels were often directing the guards, which helped give away their presence.

Ranma followed the wind to where it was strongest. He noticed the sweet scent of flowers from what he assumed was a garden. That meant an outside exit of some kind, he hoped. There weren't any human guards that he could sense, but a quick peek around the final corner showed one last obstacle.

A single armored angel was in the hall. Perhaps it was the same one that had stabbed Granberia earlier but he couldn't be certain. The slender long sword seemed the same, and it was drawn and at the ready.

"Let's hope Ariel isn't nearby," murmured Ranma. "Alright Sylph, let's do this."

The burst of wind made it feel like he was barely touching the ground. Each step forward covered several feet, and his first punch landed before the angel could bring her sword up. In the brief moments that followed, it felt like his entire body moved at the speed of his fastest chestnut fist.

Punches, kicks, elbows, knees...the angel's armor was battered hard and the sword kicked from her hand. The holy energy inside her body fluctuated and lost cohesion. Particles of light were thrown off as his fists made contact, and the finishing strike delivered enough force to send the angel flying without the help of her wings.

"Wow, that was awesome!" said Sylph as she suddenly appeared in his vision. "See? What do you need Deeny's power for if you just move fast enough?"

"Won't lie...that did feel pretty-nnh!" Ranma toppled, falling to one knee, body shaking. "Wha...what's going on?"

Sylph didn't get a chance to answer. Thunder boomed, and shook the very walls of the cathedral. Granberia raced around the corner, a black streak on the chest plate of her armor, and soon had Ranma on his feet, half carrying him as Ariel came hot on her heels, no trace of the stab wound from earlier.

"Some distraction that succubus was!" snarled Granberia. Her shoulder slammed into the door and knocked it off the hinges.

Ranma thought fast. A wall surrounded the garden. Normally he could jump it, but his body still shook uncontrollably and Granberia's wound had yet to fully close.

"I am an exceptional distraction, and since I'm trying my hand at rescuing, you should be more grateful."

A hand grabbed onto the back of Ranma's shirt and Granberia's armor, and suddenly both of them were airborne and over the wall. Electricity streaked through the air after them, but Morrigan dived down on the other side and the three of them landed hard on the street. "Ugh, you're heavy for such a small lizard."

"It's muscle," retorted Granberia. "I know succubus are unfamiliar with it."

"Well there's some gratitude for you."

"We won't be safe until we're out of the city. This is only a slight reprieve."

"I can fly you back over the wall if you have a better plan, scale-brain."

"She's not following," interrupted Ranma, "but the humans are."

"I'll need a bit more than a kiss if you want to fight your way out of the city," said Morrigan flatly.

"Noble's quarter, the place I scouted out," began Granberia, "there's a large house reserved for ambassadors. It's empty right now."

"Let's hope it stays that way," said Ranma. "Morrigan, can you use illusion magic to hide us?"

Morrigan thought for a moment. "Maybe two for five minutes."

"That's plenty. Do it to yourself and Granberia."

"What about you?"

Ranma had already picked up the sound of running water. "I've got my own disguise."

* * *

The royal guest house turned out to be exactly what they needed. Large, empty, and filled with enough dust to indicate that no one had been around in a while. It also came with a few perks, like some proper medical supplies and bandages for Granberia's wound. It had finally managed to close, though the burns remained.

Morrigan had made herself right at home. By the time Ranma had finished treating the wound, the succubus had already raided the wine cellar and found the glasses to go with the bottles.

"What did you do to piss off Ilias anyways? Even I didn't get angel assassins coming after me. Is your shapeshifting curse some sort of new blasphemy?"

"I don't know," said the now-female Ranma. It was a partial truth. There was perhaps one thing unique about herself that would warrant attention, but she wasn't going to advertise that. "Why did you come back for us?"

"You think I'm incapable of gratitude?"

"Just didn't take you for the type to stick around your prison."

Morrigan set her wine glass aside, and crossed her legs. "When I was imprisoned here, this city was about half the size it is now. Haven't figured out how long it's been yet. My seal was a joint effort by a monster lord and a long dead paladin. It should have taken at least another monster lord to break it."

Ranma looked confused. "That was a monster lord's seal? It took me fifteen seconds tops."

Morrigan shrugged. "I wasn't going to question it, but it got me thinking. Maybe you could break other seals. I wasn't the only one the monster lord imprisoned in that era."

"So you think I can help with that? I don't even know why you were sealed in the first place."

"Good luck finding someone who does. It's been decades at least. Everyone who would have remembered is long gone. I was just forgotten, and I'm sure the others were too."

There was probably a kernel of truth in that, but Ranma noticed she'd dodged the question of why she'd been sealed in the first place. "There's a monster lord in the world right now. Clear it with her, first."

Morrigan's frown showed she wasn't enthused by the idea. Her wings stretched and fluttered as she lifted herself from the chair. Her bright blue eyes shone brilliantly in the dim room. "I'm prepared to make this worth your while, Ranma. If the church is after you, you'll really appreciate having allies like me on your side."

It was subtle, but Ranma had both expected and prepared for the thrust of charm magic once she made eye contact. Potent, but nowhere near what Alice had used.

Ranma blinked once and the spell was broken. "Don't do that again, I have enough of a headache already."

Morrigan looked slightly bashful. "Sorry, it's an instinct. I have to consciously suppress it."

It was difficult to believe her, but Ranma didn't call it out. "Don't think I'm ungrateful, but Granberia's gonna say something if I don't. She's one of the monster lord's knights. I'll tell her you were helpful and that I owe you one. Granberia will say the same."

"She's scared," said Sylph as Ranma walked from the lounge and into the kitchen.

"Probably 'fraid of being sealed again. Can't blame her, but I don't know what she did, either. Damn, no food. Gonna have to go out for some."

"So...you gonna have sex with her?"

Sylph's question made her stumble on the stairs. "Why do you care about that?"

"In case I need to give you some privacy. Although if you don't mind me watching, I'll stick around."

"It ain't gonna happen! I'm already low on energy from using your power."

"No you're not. You just put too much strain on your body."

Ranma blinked and paused in her search of the bedrooms. "Come again?"

"You did too good a job using the wind. Your body couldn't keep up. That's why you're feeling sore and shaky right now. You're actually a little too good at everything the wind can do."

Closets and dressers both turned up empty, but Ranma had started to pay more attention to Sylph rather than search for clothes. "Let's say I am really good with your power. Why can't I only use a little at a time?"

"I dunno. I've never tried to turn the wind off. How would you even do that?"

With a sigh and a rub of her head, Ranma stood up from the dresser and stretched. Maybe this was just the new normal she needed to adapt to. Despite all the drawbacks, her recent encounters had shown just how powerful a tool it could be. Maybe it was like Ryoga's breaking point technique and this was her version of ramming herself into a boulder over and over again.

If nothing else, it made sneaking up on her almost impossible. "You got something else to say, Morrigan?"

From outside the hall, Morrigan jumped a little bit before she rounded the corner and entered the room, a determined look in her eyes. "Alright, cards on the table. I'm one of Minagi's daughters."

Ranma stared at her, blankly. "And that is…?"

"You really don't know? Fine. Short version. She was a succubus that rivaled the power of the monster lord of that era. She did some things, killed some humans, and earned the monster lord's ire. When the fighting settled, she lost, and I shared her punishment for siding with her."

"And that's the seal you're hoping I'll break?"

"As if," Morrigan scoffed. "I couldn't care less about what happens to that manipulative bitch, but there were others. My sisters. They didn't deserve to be lumped in with her, but the monster lord wanted to set an example."

Morrigan's look was painfully earnest and her tone felt honest. Maybe Ranma had let her perception of Alma and Granberia's distrust rub off on her a bit too much. "I can't promise anything, but I'll help if I can. I owe you that much."

The relief on Morrigan's face seemed genuine, but there was still a nagging feeling in the back of Ranma's mind, like she wasn't being told the whole story. Still, what was done was done.

Or at least she thought it was done. Sylph's voice echoed in her mind. "Aww, you're such a charmer. Good luck!" And with that, Sylph's presence vanished.

Morrigan's tail slipped out, grabbed the handle of the door, and pulled it closed. Her aura expanded to fill the room, prompting the familiar tingle of danger in the back of Ranma's neck. "Now about that other promise I made."

There was a window in here. One she could easily break. If she fought, she doubted Morrigan would try and stop her. There were also a number of excuses she could give that may have dissuaded her...but she didn't use any of them.

"If you need more energy, just say so. Pretty sure this place has warm water."

Morrigan's hand landed on her shoulder before she could walk past. "I don't need energy, but if you're offering…"

The aggression caught Ranma off guard. Arms wrapped tight around her waist and pulled her up into an embrace. A dizzying kiss followed, filled with Morrigan's natural charm magic and a push of her aura that made her lips tingle with the energy. When she was finally let back down, it was only so Morrigan could slide Ranma's borrowed shirt up and off her head.

* * *

 _Lemon removed per site policy. Look for this story under Archive of Our Own or Adult-Fanfiction for the cut content._

* * *

As the drain took hold, Ranma let her body fall limp, moans weak as her energy infused Morrigan's aura. The tail didn't stop, however.

"Go ahead and pass out. I'll make sure you have sweet dreams," promised Morrigan.

Despite her fears of what might happen if she slept, the lack of energy made the offer impossible to resist. With a final weak moan, Ranma passed out, enveloped by the succubus' body and aura.


	9. Chapter 9: Pleasure and Politics

"The monster lord is outside and requesting an audience."

Queen Laura's expression didn't change. The tension in the throne room was already near a breaking point, and she could scarce afford to cause panic among her subjects now, when a single ill timed action could mean their deaths. Unfortunately, there was only one response to Lord Fateburn's 'request'.

"See her in."

The mermaid general left and was back a minute later with the monster lord behind, her long lamia tail spinning to propel her forward. While few could match the grace of a mermaid underwater, Alice's powerful tail and effortless manipulation of the elements was one of those few.

Laura rose from her throne and bowed. "Lord Fateburn, it is a pleasure to finally make your acquaintance. If I'd had more forewarning, I could have prepared a proper welcome."

Alice cast her eyes to the other mermaids stationed around the room. "Given how nervous your soldiers and generals are, I wonder if you'd have prepared an ambush instead."

"Please forgive them my lord. Given the history of the Fateburn family, it is unclear how much caution is warranted," explained Laura tactfully, her tail churning the water as she tried to find a seat on her increasingly uncomfortable throne.

"Not an invalid point, but I find it far more likely that your subjects are worried that I'll discover your planned assault on Port Natalia and punish them for the flagrant violation of my decree."

Alice then held up a hand, silencing the start of a defensive reply from the queen.. "Spare me the excuses. You've done a miserable job of hiding your intentions and Kraken has impressed upon me that your hatred of humans has persisted over the past century and then some."

Queen Laura closed her eyes and let out a shaky breath. "Then I will not make excuses! It is precisely as you say. But allow me to ask. As someone who has suffered similarly at the hands of humans, why are you so adamant in maintaining your stance of non-aggression?"

Alice's swaying tail slowly settled on the stone floor of the throne room and a few bubbles left her mouth in a sigh. "It's because I am not an idiot."

The Merfolk general did a double take at Alice's words. Laura couldn't hide her shock. "Explain."

"I don't believe for a second that you've been a queen for over a century and didn't realize how destructive your plan is. A sizable mermaid population calls Port Natalia their home and will defend it to the death, and the forces of the church are not even a day's travel away."

Laura said nothing in response, but to Alice the silence spoke for itself and she continued. "We can do this one of two ways, Queen Mermaid. Either you tell me who approached you and what they offered, or I can force it from you. Either way, I'm not leaving without that information."

The guards around them tightened their hold on their weapons. Tense silence reigned for a full minute before Alice sighed and raised a hand. "Very well then. If that's how it has to be-"

"It was Black Alice," said Laura suddenly. "She said that the other queens would follow her and I could have my revenge on the port."

Alice frowned. "Black Alice was slain centuries ago."

"I do not know if she was genuine, but she had the power of a monster lord nevertheless, and she granted me power in exchange for my promise to raze the port when the time came."

"She gave you power?" asked Alice curiously. "Was it enough?"

Laura closed her eyes and shook her head. "No, it is not."

"As I thought. Now tell me which queens this Black Alice approached."

There were not many surprises among the names that Laura read out. Alice knew that every one of them had their grievances with humans, many of which Tamamo had impressed upon her already. Given the lack of leadership after Alice the fifteenth's demise, it was easy to see how so many of them could be swayed.

By the time Laura's report was done, Alice's demeanor had changed from calm control to barely restrained annoyance. "Unbelievable. You would think Tamamo could have spent some time actually ruling in between all the lectures she gave."

Laura gave Alice a puzzled look. "I'm sorry?"

Alice waved her off. "It's nothing. Now then, professional advice time. You should cede your title of queen."

"What?!" Laura's exclamation was echoed by the general at her side.

Alice continued as though they hadn't spoken. "Putting aside the conspiracy, your assault against my vassal, and the flagrant disregard of my orders that borderlines on treason, you're doing a terrible job as queen. Like it or not, your race is deeply integrated with the humans of Port Natalia and you've shown yourself unable to rise above your personal biases to be a proper leader for them. Do you even know how many mermaids live in Natalia?"

Laura shook her head and avoided Alice's gaze. "I do not."

"It's a lot. Enough to ignite a proper civil war, and I don't think you have as much support within Tempest as you think you do."

Laura sank in her throne at Alice's admonishment. "Do… do you wish for me to abdicate immediately?"

"No. My personal advice to you is to get your act together. If not for yourself, then for the mermaids you've sworn to protect. Whichever you choose, Kraken will be keeping a close eye on you, and so will I."

* * *

Elle remained perfectly still as the Monster Lord passed. She had meant to leave some time ago, but the confrontation between her mom and Alice had glued her to the spot. Now all she could do was wait and hope she wasn't seen or paid any mind.

It was a futile hope as Alice paused by the alcove and spoke without even turning her head. "You don't need to hide yourself, princess. These matters concern you just as much as the queen."

Meekly, Elle swam out from the niche in the hallway. "Mom told me to stay out of sight when you arrived and be ready to flee."

Alice shook her head. "I would not punish an entire species for the actions of their leader, nor would I hold the family to account for one member's actions."

"What about my mom? Are you going to punish her?"

Alice's tail swayed in the water and slowly coiled up beneath her as she ceased to tread the water and came to rest on the stone floor. "Your mother conspired with a rival to my throne and intended to start a war with humans against my orders. If you were in my position, what would you do?"

Elle's response was hesitant and uncertain. "I...I don't know. But if she hasn't caused any damage yet, then maybe she can be forgiven?"

"Maybe she can," agreed Alice. "Or maybe next time she'll be more clever about her deceptions. It's these sorts of decisions that you'll be faced with as a ruler. Remember that, if you have to take your mother's throne."

Elle nodded, her eyes downcast as Alice turned to swim away, but Elle called out, "You said Ranma was your vassal, right?"

"And your husband last I checked with Kraken."

"It was kinda on accident," mumbled Elle. "Does she...really turn into a man when splashed with hot water?"

"He does."

"And...what's he like?"

Alice chuckled. "Handsome and idiotically charming. It's really starting to distract my knights."

* * *

Ranma found herself getting a sense of when Sylph wanted to say something. Even when she wasn't visible, her natural presence seemed to get more pronounced and her energy produced a slight hum that was impossible to ignore.

Not that it stopped Ranma from trying. She'd spent the better part of an hour focused entirely on her task of 'acquiring' food and clothing in a manner that would have put another bounty on her head if she was caught.

Eventually, Ranma gave in and responded to the nagging feeling. "What is it, Sylph?"

"Hmm? Oh, nothing. Don't mind me."

"Believe me, I'm trying."

"And?"

"And it's not working so spill it already."

"Okay! How did things go with Morrigan?"

"I don't want to talk about it."

"Was that your first time as a girl?"

Ranma let out a frustrated groan and sprang from her hiding spot. A moment later, the stall she'd scouted had less clothing than it had started with. "Why is it you can read my thoughts but I can't read yours?"

"You can't? But how did you know I wanted to say something?"

"You always want to say something," Ranma retorted as a hurried dash into a nearby side street gave her cover to change into the new outfit. A moment later her path took her towards the blacksmith. While they didn't have anything in Granberia's preferred size and weight, she had seen a promising broadsword.

"Sorry, I'm not doing it on purpose. If you don't want me to listen in, just don't think about the things you don't want me to hear."

Naturally, this was a sure fire method to make Ranma think about Morrigan even more.

"You enjoyed it? What's wrong with that?"

"Nothing! It's just...she's dangerous and I still got roped in."

"Could have just been her charm getting to you. Succubi are really good at that."

"I think the world is getting to me," grumbled Ranma. Her head peeked around the corner for a moment, then quickly pulled back. "Guards around this one. Time for plan B."

Sylph appeared in front of her as she slipped into the Umisenken and walked unnoticed among the crowd. "Whaddya mean the 'world' is getting to you?"

Ranma found it difficult to put into words. To say that she'd never been tempted back in Nerima would have been a down and out lie. Ukyo was both tough and adorable, Akane had her moments, and Shampoo...well, she'd probably be right at home in a world like this. Had it been just one, she might have indulged. Unfortunately, the dynamic in Nerima meant that even a simple date would end as a battle royale.

Here, things were different. Alice's reaction to his 'quality time' with Tamamo had been a shrug followed by an unforgettable afternoon with her tail. Morrigan had seduced her despite her assumption that Granberia was his partner. Even Granberia, the most guarded of them all, hadn't protested joining in on the 'punishment' with Alice.

"Wow, you are waaay overthinking this. It's making me dizzy. Ooh! I get it now! This is a penance thing, right? You did something bad so you're punishing yourself by not enjoying sex!"

Ranma stumbled and nearly dropped her technique. "That's not it at all!"

"Is it a celibacy thing?"

"No!"

"Are you bad at it?"

"I…" Ranma hesitated, saw her opening, and swiped the sword she had her eye on before she lost herself in the crowd. Once she was some distance away from the shop, she finished her thought. "It's not like I can practice all that much."

"Hmm…" Sylph fluttered in front of her face and forced a halt.

Ranma turned away. "What? What is it?"

"I'm activating my Sylph powers of deduction."

"That's not a thing."

Sylph continued, undaunted. "You like sex, but you're nervous about it, you're annoyed with yourself at being tempted, and you're not good at it. I think I get it now."

"I don't like where this is going…"

"You're upset at how outclassed you are!"

The accusation hit like a hammer to Ranma's ego. Sylph's smug smirk was the cherry on top. With a blush on her face, Ranma pushed past Sylph and threaded through the streets back towards their base.

Unfortunately, Sylph was more than happy to fill in for her silence. "So why not practice then? There's all kinds of monster girls eager for sex thanks to Ilias. Or are you looking for a teacher?" Sylph's eyes lit up. "You already have one in mind!"

"It was just a passing thought, don't you dare read into that," warned Ranma. Her steps paused and her body went motionless as a group of guards on patrol went past.

"But she'd be a great teacher!"

"She's like the old pervert on steroids."

"Who?"

"Someone from my world. He'd be in heaven here. Or dead within a week. Point is, I'm not asking."

"Why not?"

"Pride. And I know damn well she'd use it as an excuse to humiliate and embarrass me."

"And drain your energy," Sylph added. "But would it really be that bad?"

No, it probably wouldn't. Alma Elma knew martial arts, she knew how to use the wind, and she definitely knew how to use sex appeal, but would she even be interested in teaching?

"Maybe if you let her drain you a few times," suggested Sylph helpfully.

"I never said I was going to ask her!"

"So what's your backup plan then? Alice?"

The ambassador house was in view now, but Ranma didn't immediately go inside. Instead, she leaned on a nearby wall and waited, just to make sure no one had followed her. "Hard to imagine asking her for anything."

"Really? She's not that far out of your league."

"I can't even punch through her aura. She took me and Beri on at the same time. She's in a league of her own."

"What about Morrigan?"

"I met her yesterday."

"You met Alma days ago."

"Yeah but Morrigan ain't all there. Maybe the whole prison thing got to her, but I ain't sure I'd survive 'training'."

"You survived one night. That's a good start," Sylph encouraged.

"Let's just get back to base. Not sure I trust her with Beri."

"Oh come on, what's the worst she could do?"

Ranma broke into a sprint.

* * *

Morrigan stared. Granberia stared back. The 'contest' had been ongoing for the past few minutes, neither of them saying a word.

Morrigan's tail twitched, her legs crossed and uncrossed, and finally she rose to Granberia's silent challenge and spoke what was on her mind. "We'd get out of here a lot faster if you took some of Ranma's energy."

Granberia snorted. "I'm healing just fine on my own."

"Your wound is festering with holy energy and you've favored your side ever since you got up," countered Morrigan. "Whatever you're doing, it isn't working fast enough."

Granberia said nothing so Morrigan continued. "Okay, how about a tactical analysis? Every hour we spend in this city, we get closer to being discovered. Eventually, someone is going to notice all the soldiers I've charmed away from here. If there's a fast way to get out, we need to take it."

"How do you know Ranma's energy will help?"

"Because I've had plenty and its been helping me fight off the holy influences in this place. You take some and that wound will close up. I'm sure of it."

"Couldn't even wait until we were out of the city?"

"A succubus has to eat. Just like a dragon has to be condescending. If it's that big of a deal to you, just take him to that stupid pyramid once we're out of here."

The temperature in the room rose a degree at Granberia's renewed glare. "How do you know about that?"

"The same way that I know dragons are terrible lovers." Morrigan's flippant reply only further stoked Granberia's ire. "Rage at me all you want, but dragons are the only race of monster that require a combat trial before they'll even consider hand-holding."

"That's because dragons have standards."

Now it was Morrigan's turn to look annoyed. "A hundred odd years and monsters are still using that line? You've known me for a day."

"And in that day you threw yourself at Ranma. Twice. Or was that long enough to meet your standards?"

Morrigan held up a fist and began to raise her fingers one by one. "He's handsome, she's cute, their energy is high quality, they rescued me from imprisonment, and unlike you, they didn't let their pride get in the way of a little energy drain. He clearly has you charmed, too."

Granberia rose suddenly, a fire in her eyes. "The hell he has. Say that one more time and you'll see how much damage I can do without a sword."

Morrigan met her gaze and didn't budge an inch. "You walked into a holy city for him."

"I was ordered to!""

"Were you? Or was that just a good excuse?"

Granberia's fist clenched and a small burst of steam left her nose. Morrigan's palm was spread and glowed with her bright blue energy. Both waited for the other to make a move.

"I'm back!"

Ranma's voice flew in from the front entrance to the game room and popped the tension before she appeared a moment later, packages and sword in hand. "Um...everything okay?"

Morrigan and Granberia were an inch apart. Anyone who looked could have realized things were about to come to blows, but the succubus took a step back and turned to smile at Ranma. "Just an age old monster dispute. Nothing to worry about."

"Can it wait until we're out of the city?" asked Ranma cautiously. Even though the question was given to both, her eyes were on Granberia in particular.

"...yes, it can." Her words were terse, but her fist unclenched and she took a step back.

Ranma sighed in relief. "Good, I'm gonna fix a meal and maybe after we can talk about breaking outta here?"

"Sounds perfect," said Morrigan. She held her smile until Ranma left the room. "Alright Granberia, how about a challenge?"

"Why in the hell-"

"Just hear me out. I use one simple charm spell on you. Just one. Won't even last an hour and the only thing it will do is coerce you to act on feelings you already have. The most basic of succubus charms."

"I know how charm magic works. Why should I let you use it on me?"

"Because if you can resist it, I'll go along with whatever plan you come up with and stop complaining about your dragon pride."

Granberia's eyes flicked once towards the kitchen then back. "Fine, I accept."

Morrigan grinned and her eyes glowed.

* * *

Ranma knew something had happened while he'd showered. Every time Granberia's eyes met Morrigan, she glared. Every time she looked away, she fidgeted and squirmed in place. Throughout the meal, she refused to meet his eyes.

On the other side of the table, Morrigan's aura was radiating pure smugness in addition to her sex appeal.

Cautiously, Ranma tried to break the silence. "So...any plans for getting out of the city?"

"I'm working on it," said Morrigan vaguely. "Should be ready in a few minutes now that the dragon has a new pointy stick."

The pointy stick in question was a poor substitute for the giant sized butcher's cleaver Granberia had been wielding before, but it was still a good blade for any human, if a bit thinner and longer than usual.

Ranma could sense the impending answer before he asked his next question. "You want to let anyone else know?"

"After I take advantage of the showers here." That was the end of the conversation for her as she left the table, tail swaying excitedly behind.

Ranma sighed as she left and looked back to Granberia. Suspicion was there, but he couldn't be entirely sure of the conclusion.

"How's your wound?"

"Better."

The short, one word answer was delivered instantly without so much as a glance in his direction. Ranma got up from his seat and leaned against the table next to her chair.

"Is the sword gonna work for you?"

"I'll manage."

"Any trouble with patrols?"

"None."

"Meal okay?"

"It's fine."

"Did Morrigan charm you?"

"Nothing I can't handle."

Silence followed. Granberia's face colored rapidly.

"I'll go talk to her." Ranma didn't make it a step before Granberia's hand snapped out and her scaled fingers wrapped tight around his wrist.

"Don't. It's my problem."

"How so?" He tugged at Granberia's grip, but the dragon was unyielding.

"I challenged her to do it."

"...why?"

"For reasons! Just leave it alone!"

Frustrated, Ranma reached out mentally to Sylph. "Did I miss something?"

"Yep! Don't worry, I'll leave you two alone."

Sylph's presence faded and left Ranma more confused than ever. Granberia had yet to release his arm. "Okay, I'll leave it alone if you tell me why you let her charm you."

Granberia growled and her fingers tightened. "She wants me to heal myself by taking some of your energy."

"Would that work?"

"No! Yes! Maybe? I don't know. You dispelled that holy energy seal and you could hit the angels."

Ranma hesitated. That familiar reflex in the back of his mind was there. The one that triggered his embarrassment and urged him to find some way out of the situation. Except...there was another voice alongside it.

 _"Wow, you are waaay overthinking this."_

His breath caught in his throat, a slight tremor passed through his body, but eventually Ranma found his courage. "Do you...want to try?"

Granberia's glare could have melted a glacier.

"Sorry, sorry, I'll leave." Except Granberia's grip wouldn't let him, and it was only getting tighter.

"We speak of this to no one, understand?" Her voice was a low, guttural growl that sent chills down his spine. His head couldn't nod fast enough. Finally, her claw relaxed. "Turn around and take your clothes off."

Ranma didn't stop to consider the odd request and did as he was told. Behind him, he could hear the straps coming undone and the clink of the armor as it was set aside.

"Alright, turn around."

* * *

 _Erotic content removed per site policy. Look for this story under Archive of Our Own for the cut content._

* * *

"That's...enough energy."

Ranma swallowed and forced his mouth to move. "You...have enough?"

"Enough to burn this city to the ground twice over and I don't want to carry you out of here by draining you dry."

Ranma nodded. "Right...were you going to get up?"

Granberia tightened her arms. "In a minute. We're not escaping until evening."

It wasn't worth arguing the point and he wasn't inclined to move either. With a pleased sigh, Ranma closed his eyes and settled in her embrace.

Minutes before the gates were set to shut, Ranma snuck as close as he dared, and took careful evaluation of the forces stationed there. The soldiers were numerous and were quick to stop anyone who came near and check for magical influence of any kind. Overhead a single angel watched over the group, her obnoxiously pink bow drawn and ready.

"So?"

"No, Sylph, I don't want to talk about it," said Ranma instantly.

"I wasn't going to ask about that!" protested Sylph indignantly.

"You weren't?"

"I already saw everything when I spied on you with Morrigan."

Of course she had. "What did you want to say then?"

"Um...oh! Since you want to get better, I asked Morrigan to evaluate your performance."

"Can this wait?" asked Ranma quickly.

"She said you were clumsy, awkward, and it was painful to watch you fumble around, but it was really cute, too."

"Thank you, Sylph," said Ranma flatly.

Ranma was spared further critique by the timely arrival of the cloaked Morrigan and Granberia. They were not the most effective disguises, but it was far better than nothing given how much they stood out normally.

Granberia already had her sword drawn. "Any changes in the guard?"

"None. About thirty normal fighters and some paladins, along with the archer angel. They've got a barrier of some kind on the gate, too. I think the paladins put it up. Is the flight still off?"

"Still not working," confirmed Morrigan. "Wards around the walls are particularly strong. Any sign of the leader?"

Ranma shook his head. "Nothing. I bet that archer will call Ariel real quick though. That's gonna be my first target. You sure they won't chase us past the forest?"

"Positive," confirmed Granberia. "The angels seem to want you dead far more than the humans anyways. I'll take on the paladins. Morrigan, keep the rank and file off our back."

For once, Morrigan didn't snap back at the dragon and merely gave her a nod, while energy danced at her fingertips.

Throwing the cloak aside, Granberia faced the gate. "Are you two ready?"

Ranma gave his knuckles a crack. "Ready."

Ariel landed on the top spire of the San Ilia church and waited. Far off in the distance, she could see a black haired human in discussion with a succubus and a dragon while the battalion at the gate waited in ignorance of the fight approaching them.

Beside her, the silver haired Valkyrie watched in tense anticipation. "Shouldn't we assist them, archangel?"

"There is not enough holy energy outside the church to sustain us."

"But we could direct the humans to the gate! And the weaker angels could-"

"Stall them for a time, maybe, but victory is unlikely. The dragon swordsman is back at full strength."

"What? That wound I inflicted should have been lethal to anything short of a monster lord. Nothing can combat that energy!"

"I'm well aware of what it should have done, but she is very much alive."

Far away, the battle began in earnest. Granberia led the charge and knocked scores of soldiers aside. Morrigan flew in between the ranks and left several bound and paralyzed by her magic. Ranma had charged straight through to engage the angel and already had her on the defensive. Bells rang and shouts raised, but half their number had already fallen.

"Ariel, if I may ask, why is Ilias so fixated on this human? His abilities are impressive and his energy is unusual, but his power doesn't even come close to hers."

"It is because he accomplishes things that shouldn't be possible," the archangel replied. "And those who can evade the omnipotence of our goddess cannot be allowed to roam unchecked."

The fight at the gate was in its twilight. Ranma and Granberia had turned their attention to the holy barrier to hammer it with their attacks, and those unfortunate enough to show up and reinforce the gate were quickly disabled by Morrigan's touches. In minutes, the magic shattered and the three figures slipped through the closing gates.

"What should we do now?" asked the Valkyrie.

"We've done all we can. We must return to the heavens. The task now falls to Promestein."

"Promestein? But that traitor never leaves her laboratory."

"She won't have to. They'll be going to her."


End file.
